Lynda.com iPhone App Now Available!

February 25, 2010

Lynda.com has just released their much-awaited native iPhone application. Huzzah! Fresh snow outside, the sun is shining, and I now have Lynda.com (natively, with no browser finger gymnastics required) on my iPhone – it’s like Christmas morning.

Read more about it on the Lynda.com blog or just hit iTunes and grab the free app.

The age of anywhere, anytime (literally in your pocket) learning is an exciting time indeed.

Posted in Apple, Content, iPhone No Comments »

Essential Articulate Studio ‘09

January 8, 2010

Many, if not all of you, are familiar with or use Articulate software for eLearning development. In my opinion, their tools are currently unequaled in the industry for rapid creation of top-notch eLearning. For reasons unexplained, my boss is annoyed that Articulate seems to be “the answer to every question” at present, but the reason our customers always ask for Articulate is because the published products are so good. It’s hard to find a more convincing endorsement than that.

I’ve been an enthusiastic Articulate user for several years now. In fact, I was the first in my organization (100,000+ employees) to discover and acquire Articulate – not a painless process. Once people started to see the courses and presentations I was creating with Articulate, word started to get around. Now we have many Articulate users, with more getting on board seemingly every day – not just trainers, but communicators and technical analysts as well. I should be getting a sales commission from the company. But I digress.

Being the de facto “Articulate Guru” for my organization, I frequently field questions from developers in other departments. One of the first questions I’m always asked is “How do I learn this software?” I’ve always pointed them to Articulate’s own documentation, as well as the excellent online community and Tom Kuhlman’s equally-excellent blog.

Some users want (and need) more, and it’s finally arrived: in Patti Shank (a familiar name in eLearning circles) and Jennifer Bircher’s new book, Essential Articulate Studio ‘09. The book is massive at almost 1,000 pages, and those pages are filled with clear, helpful instruction and a huge collection of screenshots. If you’re new to Articulate, or a still-uncomfortable long-time user, this book may be just what you need.

Technical books tend to be either very good or very bad, and I’d rate this one as very good. The layout is logical and the writing style is neither mind-numbingly heavy nor irritatingly light. (I love comedy as much as the next guy, but slapstick technical books just ain’t my thing.) The annotated screenshots are very helpful, as are the clearly-designated tips and notes sprinkled throughout.

The book also comes with a companion CD, which includes trial versions of Articulate software, Articulate’s own documentation and links to the Articulate website. One might ask what’s the point (I certainly do), as you can get all of that information directly from Articulate’s website (and be assured the most recent versions when you do), but the CD is there anyway – for eventual deposit in your local landfill (where it can be discovered by archaeologists 10,000 years from now). The book, however, is a keeper. And at under 30 bucks, a no-brainer.

Buy it from Amazon via my link and I’ll probably get a nickel back or something. If only 10 million of you order it, I can quit my soul-crushing job and start my own eLearning development studio!

So you go ahead and order, and I’ll start packing up my desk and drafting my letter of resignation…

Posted in Articulate, Books, Reviews, eLearning Development Tools 1 Comment »

Ommwriter: Writing Zen

December 9, 2009

If you’re anything like me and are easily distracted while trying to write on your computer (by email, Web, Twitter, etc.), you may find a simplistic full-screen word processor to be just what the doctor ordered. Last year I mentioned such an app called WriteRoom, which looked to the past to minimize the distractions of the present. I love the concept of WriteRoom and have used it frequently, but ultimately I find it a bit too “old school” (read: hard on the eyes) for my taste.

A new app (currently in beta) called Ommwriter takes things a step further with a beautiful but stark visual presentation (that’s much easier on the eyes than WriteRoom) and soothing ambient background and keyboard sounds – which you can easily disable if so desired.

While you’re typing all you see on the entire screen is your text against the background. Move your mouse and the subtle controls appear.

Brilliant.

It’s a free download (at least for now in beta form – I don’t know if the developer plans to charge for the final release) and definitely worth a look.

But…Mac only.

Posted in Apple, Software, eLearning Development Tools 1 Comment »

The Pain and Peril of Live Group Instruction

December 9, 2009

I had the misfortune of attending a live Web-based class today on a new content management system being used by my organization. I’m sure you can correctly guess exactly how it went. One learner in the class brought things to a grinding halt as she fumbled with multiple windows and documents on her end, trying to click links being shown on the instructor’s shared screen rather than switching to her own browser window and clicking them there, etc. The instructor struggled mightily (but blindly) to assist, but to no avail. After a half hour of this, she finally got frustrated enough to drop out of the session entirely (thankfully – which sounds cruel, but you’ve thought it too), allowing us to proceed.

Of course I use the word “proceed” loosely, as another learner quickly announced that he had become lost in the group exercise 10 minutes ago. Again, brakes were applied, the gear shift was thrown into reverse, and we all got to sit and stare at our fingernails (or Facebook) as the instructor spent the next 15 minutes trying to get this lost soul caught up with the rest of the group. The instructor’s frustration was obvious, the exasperation of the other learners was silent but assumed, and another learning experience was flushed into the abyss.

We’ve all sat through sessions just like this, whether in a virtual classroom or a real one. Does anyone seriously believe that this is the way to learn? And if not, why do we keep trying it?

The problem with live instruction is the pace is inherently limited to the slowest learner in the group. It always has been this way, it always will be this way. There can be only one pace in the classroom, and that pace is typically slow. Live classroom instruction is akin to trying to run a marathon while tied at the waist to a group of other runners, at least one of which is suffering from a bad ankle sprain. Does this make any sense? Of course not. So why do we apply that very approach to education?

Imagine if you could compress your entire K-12 educational experience by eliminating all the downtime spent catering to the slowest student or the time spent controlling the unruly ones. If you could have moved at your own pace, how long would it have taken you to learn everything you did learn under that conventional system? 5 years? Less? (The argument becomes irrational when you consider the intellectual maturation required during the K-12 process – much of which only time and physical growth can provide – but you get the drift.)

Imagine if that slowest student could be spared the everlasting humiliation (and permanently scarred self-esteem) from being personally tended to while the rest of the group stares in disapproval and mockery.

Imagine how much smarter we would be as a society if we weren’t lumped together into a Lowest Common Denominator learning system.

Imagine.

Wouldn’t a better approach for my class today have been to provide us with some pre-recorded instruction (a screencast, for example), some exercise materials to complete at our own pace, an email address (or instant messaging address or phone number) for the instructor to pose questions as needed, and then follow it all up with a live group Q&A session to discuss what was learned? Or better yet, skip the live Q&A session (and the technological snafus that will inevitably accompany it) entirely and allow the group to discuss the course content in an online discussion forum or other virtual collaboration or social media environment?

Wouldn’t that approach be vastly more effective (and pleasant) for everyone involved?

Yes!

I firmly believe that such a blended approach is the way to go.

Sadly, my children – who are currently in elementary school – will be shackled by the antiquated and broken live instruction model for many years to come.

However, we as corporate training developers can start changing this within our organizations now!

The next time someone suggests a live Webinar to replace a classroom-based course, suggest a blended model that utilizes various technologies instead – eliminating the problematic “live” factor wherever possible. Your learners will thank you. Your instructors will thank you. And imagine how much more scalable such an approach would be. Your manager will praise you for the cost savings. Everyone wins!

It’s time we finally admit failure and move on. Seriously.

Sidenote: On the plus side, I wrote this entire (admittedly lengthly – sorry) blog post during the fumble-filled dead time of this ill-fated live training session. No kidding. The irresistible urge to multitask during sessions like these should be completely understandable by anyone who has ever attended one.

Posted in Rants, eLearning Design 5 Comments »

Are We Thinking Differently?

December 9, 2009

Apple has had some memorable ads over the years, the 1984 Super Bowl ad for the original Macintosh of course being the most famous. But the Think Different ad was probably my favorite of all. Not because it pushes any particular product, but because it celebrates a particular mentality: that of using bold, unconventional, creative thinking to push the world forward while most are content to let it stay right where it is.

Are we doing this in the eLearning world? Are we questioning current convention – including popular theory and common academic argument? Are we challenging policy, even at the often very personal risk of managerial disapproval? Are we pushing against the status quo, or are we settling for the “Well, what can one person do?” attitude? Are we fighting for change? Are we thinking differently?

If not, shouldn’t we be?

Posted in Apple, Evangelism, Things I Love, eLearning Design 1 Comment »

On Bad eLearning Narration

December 7, 2009

When a colleague approaches you with the teaser “You just GOTTA hear this,” you know you’re in for something truly great. And of course by truly great, in most cases, I mean truly bad. And truly bad is exactly what it was.

And what it was was an eLearning course – narrated, produced and published by a peer in another department (and other state). Now, if you follow this blog, you know I’m a firm believer that just about anyone can effectively narrate an eLearning course – given a good script, the right equipment, and some common sense. That said, we have all been subjected to commoner narration gone horribly wrong. And this was exactly the case here. This particular narration was a textbook example of what not to do. It was as if he had followed a checklist of Dos and Don’ts but had mistakenly confused the two columns.

Poor equipment (i.e. $10 headset microphone): check.

Recording in the office with too much ambient noise: check.

Trying to read the narration on the fly while fumbling to manually time the animations: check.

Lots of pregnant pauses, dead air, and voiceless mouse clicking: check.

These missteps guaranteed disaster, but what truly took this narration to epic un-greatness was the delivery style. So over stylized and overdramatized that my first thought (which I inadvertently vocalized) was “Where’s the Benny Hill background music?” The faux folksy enthusiasm gave the narration a distinctive Hee Haw vibe. The adjective “cringeworthy” in this case would be too kind.

It seems the first instinct of a non-professional narrator when the recording light goes red (after panicking, of course) is to make every attempt to sound like their idea of a professional narrator. You know, the guys drop a full octave to try to sound as low and resonant as possible (Voice of God – gone wrong) and the gals jump a full octave for that dainty feminine touch. By adding as much dramatic flair to the script as they can and rolling the inflection like a Six Flags coaster, they hope to pull off the charade. If a little inflection is good, you see, then a lot of inflection must be better! Enunciating every syllable with the care and attention of a diamond cutter and speaking unnaturally slowly to allow the listener to savor your words make the auditory illusion complete.

Unfortunately, these amateurish tricks almost never work. Typically the results of such an approach are catastrophic. There are a few things the non-professional narrator needs to recognize – and accept.

First: You are not a professional voiceover artist – but that’s OK! You don’t really need to be. This is an eLearning course, not an animated Disney feature. When was the last time you left a classroom-based course and thought “Wow, that instructor had a terrible speaking voice!” Probably never. It just doesn’t happen. Sure, we’ve all had bad instructors with terrible delivery, but their voice quality (aside from volume level) is typically not the issue. All of us have “good” voices, in our own unique way. Sure, we don’t all sound like these guys, but that’s why these guys get paid the big bucks:

Second: Your voice doesn’t sound as bad as you think it sounds. We all hate the sound of our own voice. I’ll bet even James Earl Jones cringes a bit when he hears his own voice on playback. It’s human nature. I hated the sound of the first course I narrated. I thought for sure everyone else would hate it too. Then I started getting positive feedback. Surprisingly, they liked me. They really liked me! And they’ll like you too – if you can avoid the missteps of my Hee Haw-loving colleague from my example above. (Sidenote: I still hate the sound of courses I narrate. I’ve learned to live with it.)

Third: Delivery, not the character of your voice, is the key. If you can read a script and sound like the natural you, you’ll do just fine. You don’t want your eLearning course sounding like those Hollywood voiceover guys anyway. In fact, from my perspective eLearning narration that’s too good often comes off as synthetic and disingenuous. And no one would necessarily want to listen to one of the guys in the video above narrate a two-hour course on sexual harassment. Please folks, leave the dramatics for the movie trailers, the audio books, and the radio commercials – and the professionals who voice them. Natural is what you’re looking for. Like you, George Clooney doesn’t sound like James Earl Jones, but he can still do a good voiceover. Why? Because he knows delivery. Actors aren’t hired because they were born with golden pipes. They’re hired because they can recite a script and make it sound real.

Fourth: a good narration starts with a good script. Bad script = bad narration, no matter how great a narrator you are. Be sure to give your script plenty of attention before you start recording. Pare down unnecessary wordiness. Use contractions for a more informal tone. Inject a little humor to help connect with the learner. No one likes a stuffy classroom instructor, and the same applies to eLearning.

Voiceover professionals are a great source for advice on writing narration scripts. See Steve Anthony’s suggestion here, and check out Shelley McIntyre’s excellent document on formatting your script for voice talent (which could be you or a hired voiceover pro).

And of course there’s no reason you can’t (or shouldn’t) pay for voice talent if you have the resources to do so (and lack the time to do it yourself). There are plenty of talented and experienced professionals that can provide a high quality narration that doesn’t sound unnatural (read: “too Hollywood”) or disingenuous. You simply need to tell these folks what you’re looking for – and provide a script that reflects the style you’re after.

For the love of all that’s holy, please, please (please!) avoid those robotic auto-voices you see advertised for eLearning development. Shun them like the plague. Sure, clicking a button and watching your script get auto-narrated is an appealing prospect for many reasons – the benefit of your learner not being one of them. Nothing tells your learner you don’t care about them (edit: you really, really dislike them) than to subject them to these ridiculously phony narrations. And anyone with an ear can recognize these as phony by the end of the first sentence. How would you like to sit in a classroom and listen to an animatronic “instructor” synthesizing a canned script? Yeah, me neither. People like to listen to real people, especially when they’re trying to learn, and people are never going to embrace eLearning until we can inject some humanity back into it. Your learners deserve a narration voiced by a real human – and the time/money it takes to do it.

I often define the sound and style of eLearning narration I enjoy as “natural.” But what is “natural” exactly? I’m not quite sure how to define it, but I know it when I hear it. And so do you. But how can you accomplish it? To start, by avoiding the obvious faux pas outlined above. Also, try to read your narration at the same pace and style that you would normally speak it. Yes, it sounds much easier than it really is. This will require some practice. As I record, I find it helpful to read ahead several words with my eyes so I can verbalize the script at a natural pace. You will likely end up with more errors this way (necessitating more takes), but the end result will be worth it.

Here’s an example of a screencast narration that to me sounds natural and authentic, making me feel comfortable as the learner/listener:

Note the natural (read: fast) speaking pace, genuine-sounding enthusiasm and friendly, approachable tone. Would this guy be hired for a movie trailer voiceover? No way. But he sounds great in this context. And you can too, if you can just avoid the temptation to try too hard.

With a small investment in some quality recording equipment (see some of my equipment reviews on this blog), a good script, and a smart approach, you too can create your own eLearning narration that your learners not only won’t be repelled by, but will actually enjoy. And when a learner enjoys a course, odds are pretty good that he/she will actually learn something from it.

Posted in Audio, Narration, Rants 4 Comments »

Define “Mac-Like”

November 19, 2009

The term “Mac-like” is often bandied about when talking about software, including in my own ruminations here on eQuixotic. And while most Mac users will see the term and nod in contented understanding, those new to the platform (or those still peering over the fence curiously) may not yet “get it.” And frankly, it’s a hard thing to define or quantify. As far as being Mac-like, there’s not much about Windows that precludes a Mac-like experience in its applications. Windows itself has become increasingly more Mac-like – cosmetically – over the years, though of course the real essence of being Mac-like is still mostly absent on the Windows side and goes deep into the guts of the system itself. But from an application standpoint, one could certainly develop an app for Windows that is in many ways Mac-like. Unfortunately I’ve seen very few examples of this, but it can be done.

Being Mac-like means making the experience not only as painless as possible, but as enjoyable as possible. Can’t work be, dare I say it, fun? Of course it can. Sure, some may dismiss this as shallow cosmetic pandering, but such dismissals tend to be naive and uninformed, typically vocalized by hostile non-Mac users (or those who simply enjoy pain (sickos)).

Let’s examine the topic visually, with a good illustration of Windows-like vs. Mac-like software design: TechSmith’s Camtasia.

Here is Camtasia for Mac:

And Camtasia for Windows:

Note the minimalist appearance of the Mac version, where your content is the focus and the interface does its best to get out of your way. Icons are small and refined, if they exist at all (relying instead on menu commands and keyboard shortcuts). The content is the star here, and the stagehands sit, ably, just outside the spotlight – there when you need them, inconspicuous when you don’t.

The Windows version, on the other hand, does its best to distract (and tire) your eye with circus-like intensity, full of bright garish colors and large, crude icons and visual elements. Everything screams “Look at me!” There’s no soloist on this stage, but a big band of trombones, tubas and drums all clamoring for your attention.

Lest you think I’m being unfair to TechSmith, Camtasia for Windows merely fits the modus operandi of most other Windows apps I’ve used since I’ve been using Windows (1992?). My apologies to TechSmith for using them as the poster child in this particular example. (Can we still be friends?)

Of course there is more to being Mac-like than what a simple screenshot can capture – the way menus work, the way things interact with each other, the way content is brought in and brought out of an application, and on and on. But the screenshots above paint a good introductory picture of the opposing philosophies.

If I’m going to spend many hours a day on my computer (and I am), I much prefer staring at option #1 than option #2. And I appreciate a good developer who appreciates that. Thank you, TechSmith, for going this route with Camtasia for Mac. The destination should be the priority, but the journey need not be neglected.

I mean hey, this thing will effectively get you through your 2-hour commute to the cubicle farm every day:

but do you really want it to?

Posted in Apple, Rants, Things I Love, eLearning Design, eLearning Development Tools 1 Comment »

Captivate for Mac Spotted!

November 19, 2009

RJ Jacquez, Senior Product Evangelist at Adobe, posted a sneak peek of Captivate for Mac on his blog last week after demoing it at the Adobe Learning Summit / DevLearn 09 in San Jose (an event I was unable to attend).

The radio silence regarding Captivate for Mac has been deafening, so I was thrilled (yet not thrilled – see below) to see some updated information regarding this much-anticipated application.

Tech support note: if you’re a card-carrying über-geek like me and are already running the Flash Player 10.1 prerelease version on your Mac, you will likely find (as I did) that the recording will not play (I tried Safari, Firefox and Camino). I managed to view the recording on another Mac that does not have the 10.1 prerelease installed.

A couple of takeaways from RJ’s recording:

First: the UI is not horrible like the current Windows version of Captivate, but it’s not very Mac-like either. When TechSmith created a Mac version of Camtasia, they scrapped the also-horrible UI of the Windows version of Camtasia and designed a beautiful Mac-like interface (as covered in my review of the application). Adobe, in contrast, is taking a more middle-of-the-road approach. Rather than create a Mac-like version of Captivate, they are going to make the UI of both Captivate for Mac and Captivate for Windows more CS4-like. The application on both platforms will, per RJ’s description, be very similar in look and feel (and code base). So while that’s a disappointment on the Mac side (let’s face it, the CS4 UI is nothing special), at least we can expect to see the terrible UI on the Windows side be put out of its (our) misery. I understand how such standardization between platforms is beneficial to both Adobe and its customers, but the homogenization is a disappointment to many of us Mac users who like seeing Mac apps shine in their own unique way.

Second (and this is the alarming tidbit): RJ said Captivate for Mac is currently in alpha status. Whoa, what??? Didn’t Adobe solicit for beta testers way back in May??? With so much time having passed since the beta solicitation, I had hoped a release announcement was imminent. Mark hopes as “dashed.”

RJ will be giving away a free copy of Captivate for Mac to one of his Twitter followers (see his blog entry), so jump in. You could be the lucky winner. You know, when the app is finally released. Sometime in…2012. *sob*

Posted in Adobe, Apple, eLearning Development Tools 4 Comments »

Lynda.com on iPhone = Huzzah!

November 5, 2009

My love (and tough love) for Lynda.com online training runs deep, but I’ve always longed for easier, more convenient access. Wouldn’t it be cool if, say, I were able to view Lynda.com training on my iPhone? Why, yes it would. And now, yes it is!

Lynda.com courses are now (finally!) viewable on the iPhone (via Wi-Fi or 3G), providing a new way to turn unproductive time into self-development time. Sure, it’s fun to while away the hours in the doctor’s or DMV’s waiting room playing Fieldrunners, but wouldn’t you rather be learning Photoshop CS4?

It’s disconcerting that we’re already two-plus years into the iPhone Age and this is just now happening, but I’ll take it. It would be nice to see online training stay a little (lot) more cutting edge. Sadly, we’re back to the cumbersome browser-based navigation I griped about in my original review, but it appears help is on the horizon: a native Lynda.com iPhone app due “early 2010.” I swooned! Here’s hoping “early” means, well, early and not August (software developers often appear to use a different English dictionary than I).

In related news, Lynda.com is also rolling out parallel Flash-based content, so you’ll be able to view the training material using either QuickTime or Flash on your desktop machine.

If you haven’t checked out Lynda.com, you really should. I consider their training content required curriculum for anyone in the eLearning and/or presentation design field. At $250/year for all-you-can-eat access ($375/year if you want the exercise files), it could be the best money you spend (aside from, ahem, an iPhone of course).

Posted in Apple, Content, Things I Love, iPhone 2 Comments »

ScreenFlow 2.0 Released Today

October 26, 2009

Summer/Fall 2009 is turning out to be a golden season indeed for Mac-based screencasters and eLearning developers, with Telestream releasing ScreenFlow 2.0 today. This Mac-only screencasting app goes head-to-head with the recently-released Camtasia for Mac, which I reviewed last month.

I’ll download the trial, kick the tires and let you know what I think. I’m interested to see how it compares to Camtasia, which is an excellent application despite a few version 1.0 flaws.

Knowing ScreenFlow 2.0 was just around the corner, I didn’t draw many direct comparisons between Camtasia and ScreenFlow in my Camtasia review, but I plan to do that now that ScreenFlow 2.0 has been released. A few of the new ScreenFlow 2.0 features appeared in Camtasia 1.0, so ScreenFlow is merely catching up in some areas while leapfrogging or falling behind Camtasia in others. Ah, the joys of software competition!

Stay tuned for some observations on this much-anticipated upgrade. I have some tutorials I’ve long wanted to do for this blog (GarageBand narration recording among them) and need to choose my weapon: Camtasia or ScreenFlow. Heck, maybe I’ll use them both.

Download your own ScreenFlow 2.0 trial here.

How about making the season complete, Adobe, by releasing Captivate for Mac? You know you want to.

Posted in Apple, eLearning Development Tools 6 Comments »