Rethinking+the+Problem

Storyboard

 * Storyboard is available at http://www.kmallette.com/documents/csuglobal/Storyboard_skint.docx
 * Warning: 15MB file

Issues I need to address:
July 24 update - Low bandwidth is no longer a consideration. WB has decided that it will create all courses on a CD that can be sent to learners with low bandwidth.
 * Low bandwidth - how can I support learners using dial-up
 * Short attention span - find a way to make this shorter, break it up into smaller chunks, or use a different technology for presentation (aka not video)
 * How do I embed audio into a HTML web page - can I use HTML 5 to do that

Resources
[] - 7 tips for short videos

 - script for embedding Streampad in a webpage

= = =** July 24 **= =**Rethinking my problem**= While I still believe that my analysis is correct (that we need a "preparation" phase to our online training), I don't think that the technology I was considering is a good solution. My concerns are that there are too many topics, using too many different technologies. So while it might be engaging, it also runs the risk of overwhelming the learner - especially within the context of a single "lesson".

Considering the requires for the Week #6 assignment (creating a podcast), it occurs to me that I could create a series of podcasts (5-10 minutes, using a digital story format so that I can use visuals) that each cover a single topic or a group of closely related shorter topics. The series would be as follows:
 * Podcast #1 - Learning at WB University/Introduction to the Certification Program - describes the process of the program, the student's prerequisites and responsibilities, student services, and the assessments involved in the Program. It would end with a walk-thru parts of the LMS that is used for the online courses.
 * Podcast #2 - Setting Learning Goals - how to set goals, and break down learning barriers
 * Podcast #3 - Creating a Learning Environment - brain food, learning space, time
 * Podcast #4 - Strategies for Reading, Learning from Images, and Taking Notes - various methods, and instructions to bring the notes taken during the online classes to the hands-on class
 * Podcast #5 - Using your Learning Style - After completing an online VARK learning style quiz, discuss strategies and tactics for using their style in the online course.
 * Not sure how to get them off to the online learning style quiz from a podcast ... hummm ??? August 15: Saw a suggestion for this on Lynda.com this week - tell the learner to pause the player, copy down the URL, and come back when they are finished at the web site.

= August 15 = My colleagues and I have redesigned the Certification Program, which affects what I think this course should be (assuming that I actually implemented it). The result of the redesign is that the final certification assessment won't include the information covered in the online courses. This means that the problems around taking notes, and bringing them to the hands-on class, goes away. Podcast #4 (listed above) would focus on Reading and Learning from images only. I am going to integrate the topics (listed above) as Podcast #1 into the "Getting Started" course; however, I plan to do it as a video/audio clip.

I also looked at our LMS with respect to accessibility. It uses HTML frames, of course that's a no-no, but one that is unavoidable. Our biggest problem stems from using tables in Word to control the positioning of our images. We create content in Word, and the LMS converts that to HTML pages. The conversion process often places images incorrectly, so we've found that putting images into table rows controls that conversion process. Unfortunately, the screen readers pick up those tables as structure and attempt to read it as real data. The images are also missing "alt" tags (of course). I'm not hopeful that I can find a way around this one - both with respect to Word and the 'political' discussion with my team about the need to support some level of accessibility. Our learners must be fully able-bodied in order to actually do the job they are learning about, so I have little, if any, persuasive powers for change.