Branding Your E Learning Courses

There are many ways to give the company’s look and feel to the e learning course.

In case you are publishing in Articulate, adding the logo in the logo panel would be the easiest way to make your logo visible. Having the same template inside the power point area is nice, but the disadvantage is that it minimizes your creative zone.

But you can of course, work around your way through it. One way would be to use the exact color scheme in your work. But how accurately can one do it? Will eye judgment suffice? For people who are ultra color sensitive, its good. But the rest of the people (like me) need not worry. All you need is a color picking tool.

I use FastStone Capture, an easy screen capturing tool to help me in this mission.

You can use any other tool, provided it has a color picker. Using the color picker, click on the key colors used in the brand.

In this example, I have tried to develop an e learning course template based on the `E Learning Heroes’ website, powered by the Articulate.

The first step here to use the color picker, and note down the key colors. In this example, let us concentrate on the middle blue panel.

Once you pick the color, it will give you the RGB components.

In this case, RGB is 206, 234, 253.

Similarly, pick a few random colors and note down their RGB numbers.

Now, in Power Point, draw an object, and fill it with the same color.

Using this method, you can achieve the same color scheme as that of your parent website / company colors. While a screenshot may not be of good quality, the power point images are vector objects, and therefore do not suffer from quality loss when enlarged.

I have used this technique to create a power point template based on Articulate’s E learning Heroes website.

All the objects have been created fully in Power Point, and the trick of course lies in giving the same color gradients. 

You can download the template from here.

So just like this, you can build your own e learning template that goes perfectly with the corporate branding of the company!

Happy branding!

Using Power Point as a Powerful Image Editing Tool

Hailing from a Visual Communication background, I always thought that editing an image is impossible without Photoshop.

But today, 90 % of my image editing is done in Powerpoint itself. Let’s check out some cool ways of editing images in power point –

1. Cropping Images

With the Freeform tool, you can easily crop images to a fair degree of perfection.

For instance, here is a photo that I took from Microsoft Clipart. I just need to keep the one who is throwing the ball. So here is how I would do it –

First, maximize the picture (shortcut – Press Ctrl and scroll up your mouse, and vice versa for zooming out) and stencil out the picture, as perfectly as you can. At first, you might need a little bit extra effort and patience, but I assure you that you will be just fine with a little practice.  

We are almost there. Now, crop the real picture and keep only the frame that’s required.

Now copy the image. And then, right click on your stenciled shape> Format Shape > Fill > Picture or Text Fill

You will find that the cut image has fit in the stencil, but not quite perfectly. Now, the trick is to select `Tile picture as texture'. Try playing around with the Offsets, until you get the perfect crop.

Bingo, the image is cropped!

Tip - If you choose to use the Curve tool, you can get a sharp/straight curve by pressing Ctrl.

2.       Removing Image Backgrounds

If you are lucky, the image might just have a plain background. In this case, removing the plain background is just a click’s effort.

First, select the picture.

Reset Picture > Set transparent color

Now select the color you want to delete.

Here is a sample-

Here is a before and after version of the picture –

3.       A tricky way to use the Crop tool in Power Point

My teammate Tom Thomas has shared a clever way of using the crop tool. Read it here .

Giving an iPad touch to your e learning course

I was very fascinated by Tom Kuhlmann's idea of developing an e learning course template resembling an i pad.
Click here if you want to download Tom's iPad mock up. I was so much wowed by it, that I created a little more stuff, in order to accomodate my course material which had a heavier chunk of text.

You can download the additional templates here.
Go ahead and show off to your learners with a stylish iPad themed course! 

How to Search Images in Google

Instructional Designers often have the task of hunting images that suit the course content. There are many sites that offer free images. Google is often our ultimate refuge. In this blog, we will explore the different options for searching images in Google (in a very limited sense, of course!).

Click on `Images’ in the Google homepage to go to the sea of images that awaits you!

Giving search words

Searching for images is an art. (`Searching' for anything, is the ultimate function of the virtue of patience, I will say. :) ) Philosophy apart, the key lies in giving the correct search words. Google offers some useful tips for giving the right set of key words. Check them out here. However, the scope of this blog is just to share some tips out of experience. :) 

If you are trying to illustrate abstract concepts, it is often not advisable to give the abstract word itself as a search word, for two reasons-

One, it might be a cliched picture. Two, it might not be the accurate representation. So, use your creative self, and try to visualize  an image. The description of this image will be your key word.

Example, imagine we are doing a course on Corporate Responsibility.

Here is the search result from Google for `Corporate Social Responsibility’.  

Yes, I know it’s very tempting to just go for one of them, as they look so off-the-shelf.

But remember that your audience might have seen the same picture a thousand times. So as soon as they open your module, they are like “Hey Copycat, I have seen that picture before”. That’s not what a wannabe instructional designer will want to hear, is it?

So let’s get creative, close our eyes and think of how we might illustrate the concept of Corporate Responsibility.

Yes, patience is a virtue. We will have to work around the image to get what we want. But that’s individuality.

Let us now try to use one of the above images to make one of our own. So back to our home pitch-

After a little bit of playing around with the image, this is the result -

And this is it's bone structure -

Other useful tips for searching images –

Look at the left hand pane of Google -

You find that there are various options to choose from - Size, color and type. I find the `Type’ option particularly useful. When your module uses just clip arts or drawings, for instance, you can base your search accordingly. For example, here are the three types of results for the same key word - Horse

By the way, if you are very used to dealing with images, you might have realized that we can actually make the `foot print’ that I used to demonstrate the concept of corporate responsibility, instead of buying the image. Stenciling images in power point is a whole topic by itself. We will discuss this in detail in one of the coming blogs.

Do you have any further tips to offer while searching for images? Feel free to add on through the comments section.

Striking a Chord With the SME

This is mostly how a `Request for an e learning module’ buds. Explaining the capabilities and convincing the possibilities have always been a challenge for IDs. So how do you usually break the ice?

Well, the easiest way would be to get started with a call.

What is the scope of the project?

Here is a blatant truth – People normally hate to do or take trainings, just because of the plain reason that anything outside the routine work means a burden. I would’nt say `most’, but at least `some’ of the requests we receive are just a way for the Manager to shed off his `training’ burden.



Do analyze if a virtual course would actually help them, or if the concepts are better understood in a face to face training set up. However, do not forget that you can go for a combo training, where there is a little bit of class room and virtual training. And yes, don’t forget to ask on the target audience.

Split the process and explain it phase by phase

Don’t make the whole process look like a black box. Don’t assume that your client knows the procedure. Divide the whole project into distinct chunk. Anything that splits the process into simple, trackable goals is good enough.

This once happened to me – I was explaining our module delivery project planner to my customer. And weird enough, I found his face looking scarier as I finish explaining each stage.

And at the end of it, he gasped – “Oh, so that’s a lot of work”.And I nodded. “But sorry, I don’t think I will be able to do them all. I have never even come across the term `storyboard’ in my life!”

Yes, it was all my fault. While explaining the planner, I should have stated who does what.  So it makes sense to add a `Who does what' column to your planner, so the SME has a clear understanding of his roles.



Watch out for jargons –

Once while working with an SME, I fell prey to a couple of abbreviations that had to be used frequently in the training. I assumed that the lingo must be a well familiar one, and did not care to question him on it. After rolling out the training, we received a lot of questions on what those abbreviations were supposed to mean. And then came the truth – Looks like the SME’s predecessors had used it, and was just `passed’ on to the next `generations’.

It was my fault that I did not care to ask him for the expansion in the beginning itself. Lesson learnt – I always make it a point to set my fingers on any ambiguous terms and straighten all the mysterious folds.



Measuring the Success

Most of the clients might want to know how to `measure’ the learning rate. Explain to them the various possibilities your LMS (Learning Management System) can offer. Can your team send a periodic test scores to the managers? Great!

Give a Realistic Picture

Don’t claim your training will churn out a super human in every employee. E learning, like anything else, has its boons and banes. And some trainings just simply follow the rule of osmosis.

Alice in Wonder - e- Land

If not an Alice in Wonderland, every one of us instructional designers are Alices in our own wonder e lands. And just as in a movie and the book, and just as everyone of our clan, I have a rollicking time, fiddling around with the colors and scripts. So here's an allude to the `Alice in Wonderland'.

I can count up to as much as six impossible things before breakfast-

Number One, there is a potion that can make long and boring e modules short and smart.

Every learner wishes to hear this dialogue in the first three minutes of the course - "This session will last for 30 minutes". The lesser, the better. Though the Alices like to dwell in the wonderland for more time, people (the learners) like to be out in less than half an hour.  



It is therefore a good idea to get the magic potion that can help you shrink the size of your course timing.

For courses that refuse to get over in half an hour, take out your knife, and cut it into slices. You can of course ask the learners to bite the slices one at a time, spread over a couple of days. And they will love it!

Number two, a cake can make you creative, every time.

I know how tempting it is to hit the CTRL (+ C +V) button every time. But bid a bye bye to the pedant in the course. Get more practical. Show your learners pictures from real life. If you are talking about cleanliness in office, don't just talk, show them. The courses would definitely breathe more life.  Here is another example -

 



Number three - Anything can talk.

Get creative with your narration style. You don't always have to be that unseen and unheard voice talking prophetic stuff to the learners. Make the session more dramatic. The easiest way (and the one that mostly clicks) is to pick up a central character. And yes, anything can talk. A chalk from a teacher's board can teach the best practices involved in teaching, for instance.

In this example shown below, our challenge was to make the topic of `Protecting the Environment' a little more interesting. So we made the planet Earth narrate the whole course, as a personal plea.  

Number four - Mouse can smile

Where to give `Proceed automatically to next slide' and where to give `Cleck by the user' is a definite conundrum for we Alices. O yes, the one on the navigation instructions is a separate book by itself. But do bear in mind that life in an e learning module goes certainly beyond the `Click next to proceed further'.



Number five - There’s a place called wonder- e – land

And there are heroes to save me.I always bump into the elearning heroes for any help or practical advice (yes, free templates included :) ).



They are here at http://community.articulate.com/

Number Six – I can slay the Chatterwokey dragon

If it was Jabberwockey that Alice had to fight with, we e Alices have to fight with the Chatterwockeys... Courses which just have a lot of chatters, with less of `learnable content'. They ultimately drone the learner to sleep and kill all your hardwork. Slay the Chatterwokey dragon and save your learners! 

The Stone Porridge

The Stone Porridge

Once, a man who was visiting a new village felt very hungry half way through his journey. He knocked at the doors of many houses, but the response was very unwelcoming. So he decided to change his strategy. He knocked the next house, and asked for food. When declined, he said, “Phew, and I thought you were lucky enough to learn the magic recipe from me”. This intrigued the house wife. “What magic recipe?” she asked.  He replied in an enchanting tone, “Did you know that you can make porridge out of stones?”

In a matter of seconds, she got the stones, and the man set into action. He took water in a pot, and added the washed stones into it for cooking. “You know what?” he said, “This tastes even better with a little milk”. Who doesn’t like good food? So the lady was quick to give him the milk. “And now, a little bit of rice or semolina to give it a rich texture.  Of course, what’s porridge without sugar?” he said.



Once the ingredients were cooked properly, he said, “The porridge is ready”, while throwing away the stone from the cooking pot.

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It’s time again for our annual staff meeting day.  The dance team decided to meet up after office to brainstorm on the show. I joined them too. Now don’t ask me what I’m doing in this group. My dancing career started and ended in UKG.

And here I am, after crossing more than quarter of my life, in a `Dance’ team. But don’t think that it was that dumb a team. I was probably the only black sheep. Others did have a decent little dance career to discuss (if not boast) about.

The team managed to churn out a song and now, the big challenge was choreographing. And what am I seeing in front of me? Even the trained dancers were clueless how to start. Call it starting trouble! Some could `imagine’ the step, but not do it, and some other person could tell what was wrong, but could not figure the right way.

This is when I adopted the stone porridge approach. “What about doing this step?” I asked. I just swirled my hands to make a somewhat `dancy’ step, and it clicked.



It meant a great start to the much distressed, starting trouble plagued group,  that they unanimously agreed.  “Hey. Let’s start with that”, said one of the girls. Once the ice was broken, the choreographer inside everyone bloomed to the full. So, on the third day, my task was to remove the stone from the porridge. And the team was quick enough to replace it with a more graceful step.

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Whenever my team deals with a new topic, and is puzzled on where and how to make a start, the stone porridge approach has worked great. Start with a crappy idea, and let it just go on. It’s good enough to clear off the writers’ block, and usher in fresh and creative ideas. At the end of the day, just take away the stone, and your delicious porridge is ready!