I love seeing creative ways of explaining new concepts, and a great example of this is Epipheo Studios‘ recent intro to Google Wave.

Simple, engaging, informative and entertaining: it’s a great example of eLearning done right. It’s nice to see folks like Epipheo and Common Craft hard at work creating un-sucky eLearning.

Alas, some might argue that this isn’t really eLearning at all, but simply marketing – an argument with which I would strongly disagree.

Have a look at some of their other work as well. Great, great stuff. I don’t know about you, but as a learner I’d find my yearly corporate eLearning courses on mandatory topics (ugh!) much easier to swallow if they showed even a glimmer of this kind of passion and creativity.

And note the casual (and familiar) narration style. This guy sounds like…well…someone you actually know rather than someone trying to sell you something on late night TV (”Call right now and get a bonus set ABSOLUTELY FREE!“)

Imagine how different the impact of this would be had it been done using bullet points and a typical eLearning narration style from a poorly-chosen voiceover pro (or worse – one of those abominable robovoices).

This is eQuixotic Hall of Fame material, no doubt. Nice work guys.

Lynda.com holds a place very near my heart as a superb training resource, but Lynda.com also has the dubious honor of an eQuixotic first (and possibly last): a dual 2008 nomination for both eQuixotic Hall of Fame (Lynda.com: Saving Grace – The Content) and Hall of Shame (Lynda.com and Navigational Pain (Or “Please Don’t Punish the Learner”)). How did they accomplish this seemingly impossible contradictory feat? By pairing stellar training content with a learner-punishing delivery system.

I’m happy to report that Lynda.com has heard my anguished cries (well, our collective anguished cries as Lynda.com users) and responded by improving the learner experience tremendously. The new course player allows you to play an entire chapter at once (yes!) and also allows you to jump to the next or previous movie within the player window itself (yes!!!). Hallelujah! Gone are the aggravating mouse gymnastics required to move from one topic, or chapter, to the next. Thank you Lynda.com!

The new intro animations are very slick, and the welcome segments with the course author are very nicely done:

Sadly, there seems to be no keyboard control of the player. Restoring this (I swear it was there before, unless my memory fails) would be a welcome improvement.

But hey keyboard control, get off of our cloud! For now we celebrate the vast improvement to the Lynda.com learner experience. With this change I hereby retract Lynda.com’s nomination to the eQuixotic Hall of Shame. Their nomination to the Hall of Fame, however, remains secure. And deservedly so.

If you are an eLearning developer or presentation designer, a yearly subscription to the Lynda.com training library will probably be the best self-development money you’ll spend. And now more than ever.

Sorry to all for my recent lack of writing. Aside from the ever-crazy “life in general,” I was scrambling to finish my submission for the Articulate Guru Awards 2009 – a project I put together in my so-called “spare time” (much to the dismay of my wife and children), independent of my employer. Sadly, there are only so many hours in the day. I need to overcome this pesky need for sleep. But I digress…

I was thrilled to see my work, a visual tour of Evernote desktop and iPhone software (which I love), honored with a Silver award!

In an industry that often seems obsessed with buzzwords du jour, abstract theory and academic gobbledygook, I often wonder if anyone else cares about what I care about: designing visually engaging eLearning that people actually want to pay attention to. This focus typically makes me feel like the odd man out among my peers.

So I was elated to be given some measure of vindication with the award. You can have a look at my entry, along with those of the other winners (to whom I offer my hearty congratulations), if you feel so inclined.

I was particularly surprised when the Articulate staff praised my narration work. Like any other normal human, I hate the sound of my own voice and often wonder how it is perceived by others. I’m a big fan of a casual narration style (save the drama for movie trailers and audiobooks, please) – hence my own guerilla narration work. If you want something done your way, do it yourself, right? The narration was done with a review unit of the Marshall MXL USB.009 microphone (a special thanks to Mike Descher of Marshall for that). I’ll post a detailed review of that microphone, and two other MXL mics, shortly, but the conclusion is obvious: the USB.009 is a great mic for eLearning narration work.

I’ll also be detailing some of the tricks I used to create my Evernote tour. Much to do, much to do! Hopefully we’ll get some new readers as well – the bigger the collaborative pool, the better.

My thanks go to Articulate for their fantastic products and their wonderful staff support.

For years I dreamed of a fitness program that would hold my hand without charging an hourly fee. That would walk me through a workout without making me camp in front of the TV or computer. That would help me track my progress without forcing me to use that annoying spreadsheet application (while camping in front of the computer, natch).

That dream has finally become reality. PumpOne has been offering mobile device-based workout programs for some time now, but the old iPod-based (pre-Touch) programs didn’t do much for me. The finger-tastic versions for the iPhone/iPod Touch, on the other hand, are a revelation.

iPump gives you a range of workout intensity levels, each with multiple workouts.

Each exercise is explained using detailed photos. You can also tap a button on the screen to watch a narrated video demonstrating the exercise. Simply finger flick from exercise to exercise.

And throw away the spreadsheet, because you can enter your reps and weight for each exercise during each workout session, which is stored in your workout history. You can also keep a log of the days you worked out.

PumpOne offers a wide range of workout programs, from cardio to Pilates to a special program for skiers and snowboarders (which is the one that drew me in). The variety they offer is impressive.

Beautifully designed, easy to use, and instantly applicable. It’s what eLearning should be.

eQuixotic eLearning Hall of Fame nominee? You betcha!

Anyone who can’t see mobile devices as the real future of eLearning needs to wipe the layer of dust off their crystal ball. I have seen the future of eLearning, and it’s sitting in my pocket.

SPECIAL NOTE: for the iPhone/iPod Touch users out there, PumpOne is running a Thanksgiving sale on all their workout apps in the iTunes App Store for the next two days (Nov. 25-27). How much? How about A BUCK A PIECE! (Actually, 99 cents.) Are you kidding me? Less than a dollar for this? Run, don’t walk, to iTunes and get them while they’re cheap! When I saw the sale price, I jumped in and bought 9 different programs. I just couldn’t help myself. Curse you impulse pricing!

This may be old news to some of you, but I had never seen it before it was presented at a training conference I attended last week. Not only is the message thought-provoking, but the visual design is extremely compelling. This is nothing more than a PowerPoint-like presentation set to music. Yet it’s more effective than 99.9% of the PowerPoint presentations you’ll see.

If only most of the eLearning I’ve been subjected to were this efficient…

Eight minutes well spent.

Adobe unveiled its new Adobe TV site today, offering a variety of video-based instructional sessions (with real talking heads!) focused on using its vast arsenal of creative development tools.

I’ve made the obvious argument several times in the past (An Educated Customer Is a Happy (and Loyal) Customer, Adobe Video Workshop: Adobe Teaches You Adobe, eLearning Is Selling, Hold on, Kawasaki! (And Tippie Too!)) that a significant future trend in eLearning involves companies teaching current (and potential) customers how to use their products. Adobe continues to illustrate (pun?) this trend with the new Adobe TV site.

The line between marketing and education truly is becoming blissfully blurred.

If you use Adobe products (and as an eLearning developer, you almost certainly do), have a look at the new Adobe TV site.

As an appetizer, I highly recommend Caffe Fibonacci – Rufus and Tim’s Digital Kitchen, produced in a classic cooking show format. Educational and entertaining – it hits the eLearning sweet spot! Mmmmm!

Might I even be so bold as to give it an eLearning Hall of Fame nomination? Perhaps I might.

Bon appetit!

Sidenote: hey Adobe, how about ponying up some extra bandwidth and giving us the option of high-definition video? I like the full-screen viewing option, but the available resolution hardly does it justice.

Common Craft are a Seattle-based husband and wife team (Lee & Sachi LeFever) with a distinct eLearning development style: they use hand-drawn paper cutouts and real live human fingers (!) for their instructional videos in lieu of fancy schmancy digital graphics and effects. Or, simply put:

We focus on simplicity, creativity and clear explanations to create videos that stick.

Nope, no abstract adult learning theory to get in the way of the message here. Just pen, paper, scissors, and a video camera. Sometimes perhaps a bit of string. This is as old school as eLearning gets. And it works!I don’t envy them all that tedious paper animation work. But I salute their unique and memorable approach. And their lengthy client list full of companies looking for something other than the same old, same old.In eLearning (and everything else), creativity is beautiful.

I lambasted Lynda.com in my previous post for a clunky navigation scheme that is needlessly annoying for the learner. I hope Lynda.com hears the cries (silent cries?) of its customers and improves this glaring shortcoming in an otherwise stellar service.

With that criticism behind us, allow me to pull a 180 and tell you why every eLearning developer should have a yearly subscription to Lynda.com content.

The inspiration for this blog, as you probably know, is the sad state of visual design in eLearning (generally speaking). Many eLearning developers come from academic backgrounds and lack a basic knowledge of visual design concepts. And this lack of knowledge results in eLearning that lacks impact, fails to effectively educate, and does little to convert learners to this new, unfamiliar and unsettling method of training.

It’s no secret that corporate training departments are perpetually underfunded, and many of us are doing “soup to nuts” eLearning development that requires a wide range of skills; from writing content, to HTML and javascript programming, to graphic design and audio/video production. Some of us are freelance developers with no corporate resources whatsoever.

We are jacks of all trades, masters of none some. Many of us love the variety and challenge of handling all aspects of eLearning development, but doing so effectively requires training. Lots of training. Training that isn’t easy to come by – a sad irony for those of us in the business of training. So we stumble along, learning by trial and error.

Some of us may be lucky enough to have the support of skilled graphic designers and are never compelled to descend into the dirty work of pushing pixels. Nonetheless, a fundamental understanding of basic design concepts is not merely helpful, but in my opinion essential for any eLearning developer who strives to create truly great eLearning experiences.

Lynda.com offers a fantastic catalog of screencast-based courses for software applications used extensively in eLearning development. Photoshop. Illustrator. Flash. Final Cut Pro. PowerPoint.

Lynda.com also offers some excellent courses covering basic design and media fundamentals we should all learn. Color. Typography. Interactive design. Digital audio principles.

And courses that help us understand collaboration tools, like Microsoft Project and SharePoint, that make our team development work more efficient and effective.

Most of these courses span several hours of screencasts, but my favorite aspect of Lynda.com is I can jump in and view a specific topic that I’m struggling with in a project at any given time. Like putting text on paths in Illustrator (why can I never get that right?).

At a mere $250 for a full year of anytime, anywhere access to this vast collection of courses pertinent to eLearning development, a Lynda.com subscription is a no-brainer.

Several months ago I attended an eLearning development conference, and unsurprisingly, most of the sessions were filled with examples of the type of eLearning I loathe – sterile, unimaginative stuff that hit all the essential “adult learning theories” (ugh) yet exhibited absolutely zero emotional appeal. You know, just like 95% of the eLearning you see every day.

Then I attended a session where Nick Floro of Sealworks Interactive Studios was presenting.

Whoa, hold on, what’s this? eLearning I actually want to take a second look at???

Nick demoed some truly remarkable stuff. Beautiful, really. The kind of eLearning I wished I could actually sit down and experience in its entirety.

Extremely interactive – and obviously expensive, highly customized work. But a model of what can be done when delighting as well as educating is the goal, and genuinely creative minds are tasked with making it happen.

I was particularly taken with his demos of two projects they did for McGraw-Hill: Introduction to Jazz, and Ariel: A Reader’s Interactive Exploration of Literature.

Please visit their site and browse the portfolio to see the kind of eLearning I dream of.

If you have the money and want to create a stunning piece of eLearning that will both inform and enthrall, Sealworks might be a shop you’ll want to talk to.

This is an eQuixotic Hall of Fame nominee. No question.

Thanks Nick (and Sealworks) for saving a mostly otherwise dreary conference experience.