Tag Archives: training

iBooks, the future of course material?

Posted by on January 27, 2012 No comments

If you are in the training and learning business, you know that course material always has been the subject of many discussions. Some say it is necessary, others say that they are never used, but most students want “a manual”. Entire forests disappeared because of it, the added value of it is uncertain.

What if you could avoid using paper, and make the manual really deliver added value? I spent some time playing with iBooks author, a manual in Word format about an IT application, and Adobe Captivate software demo’s, to see if this could be a valuable alternative.

The workflow to replace all your paper based manuals by this solution would be:

  • Get yourself a Mac :–)
  • Get yourself an iPad if you want to preview your iBooks
  • Download a copy of iBooks author
  • Import your Word document into iBooks author
  • Publish your Captivate demo’s as .mp4 (standard publish function in CP 5 and higher)
  • Convert your .mp4 files to .m4v with QuickTime
  • Insert the demos in your iBook using the Media widget
  • Add some interactivity if necessary, e.g. multiple choice questions
  • Publish your project
  • Distribute your iBook (via the store or as a file)
  • Get an iPad for all your students :–)

I will let you judge for yourself. This is the result:

Keyboard shortcuts for Tabs in IE

Posted by on February 14, 2011 No comments

This morning, I was looking for the keyboard shortcut that allows you to switch between different tabs in Internet Explorer. Like ALT+TAB allows you to switch between open windows, CTRL+TAB allows you to switch between open tabs. But there are even more interesting shortcuts I did not know about, like ALT+ENTER. Little things that can save you quite some time. See the list below, taken from the IE Help:

To Press
Open links in a new tab in the background Ctrl while clicking the link
Open links in a new tab in the foreground Ctrl+Shift while clicking the link
Open a new tab in the foreground Ctrl+T or double-click an empty space on the tab row
Open a copy of the current tab in a new tab Ctrl+K
Switch between tabs Ctrl+Tab to move forward or Ctrl+Shift+Tab to move backward
Close the current tab (or the current window when there are no open tabs) Ctrl+W or Alt+F4
Open a new tab in the foreground from the Address bar Alt+Enter
Switch to a specific tab number Ctrl+n (where n is a number between 1 and 8 )
Switch to the last tab Ctrl+9
Close all tabs except for the one you’re viewing Ctrl+Alt+F4
Open Quick Tabs (thumbnail view) Ctrl+Q

The ribbon in SharePoint 2010 – tutorial

Posted by on December 1, 2010 No comments

I have been getting a lot of questions about tutorials on how to use the ribbon in SharePoint 2010. Of course, creating a “general” tutorial about this is not so obvious, because the ribbon is context-sensitive, and what you need to know about it, actually depends on the functionalities you use in SharePoint. But I think the movie below (by Lynda.com) gives you a good overview.

Users who are familiar with SharePoint 2007 and are looking for a familiar command in the ribbon, can download the SharePoint Server Ribbon Reference on the Microsoft Office website. This is an Excel spreadsheet that lists the new locations of SharePoint commands in the 2010 version.

Teaching in the future with Microsoft Interactive Classroom

Posted by on November 1, 2010 2 comments

Sometimes you discover a great learning tool, hidden somewhere on the web. The Microsoft Interactive Classroom is such a tool, and it gives us a taste of what classroom training might be in the (near) future. If you have ever wondered if they was way you could avoid printing tons of paper manuals, if you are tired of distributing PowerPoint handouts that nobody ever uses, this is for you.

Basically, it is an add-on to PowerPoint and OneNote (2007 or 2010). As a teacher, you use PowerPoint to prepare your slides as usual, and you can use the Microsoft Interactive Classroom add-on to add question slides in your presentation. You get an extra tab in the ribbon for that:

Once you start giving your session, you click the Start Session button. This starts a broadcast of your presentation on the network. Your screen will look like this:

With the ribbon, you can annotate your slides (works great if you have a tablet!) but also start polls, display the results of the poll to your students…

But the best feature is yet to come. Your students connect to your broadcasted session with… OneNote! They automatically get a copy of the slides as a separate note page, they can take their own notes on the slides, they see the annotations of the instructor in their OneNote… and after the session they go home with their own annotated lesson material. Of course, they need to be connected to the same network (wired or wireless).

We tried it during an interactive session of one hour with 20 workstations and it was quite impressive. And what is even better: it’s free!

 

More information:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2010/aug10/08-16education.mspx

 

Download:
http://www.educationlabs.com/projects/IC/Pages/default.aspx

Why did Yanina not fill in her whereabouts?

Posted by on November 9, 2009 2 comments

tennisbalI was watching the interview of tennis player Yanina Wickmayer where she explains why she did not fill in her whereabouts in the ADAMS computer system. As a result, she got suspended for one year.

I do not want to take any position about this decision (there are enough Facebook groups that do that), but this story reveals some typical problems that need to be addressed when introducing a new software tool:

  • Communicate clearly: the “business rules” need to be communicated clearly, so that the user knows the policy and guidelines. For that, you use the proper way of communication with your users (oral, e-mail, …) Sending letters to the home address of a globetrotter does not fall under “proper way of communication”.
  • Motivate: if your users know the philosophy of your application, why it makes things easier and what the benefits are, chances are much higher that the tool will be accepted.
  • Make it look nice: while applications are judged by IT people on their functionalities, the end users have a lot of interest for the “look & feel” of the application. If it looks good, your application will “sell better”.
    The ADAMS application does not look very sexy at all, have a look at the brief demo.
  • Leverage technology: a web application is a good choice for a global, world wide application, but “a pc connection to the internet” does not seem to be always available to the sporters. But I’m sure they all have a Blackberry. Why not make a mobile app?
  • Train and document: the ADAMS application is a great example where the use of e-learning would be very appropriate: lot’s of users, spread over the entire world. Short demos, faqs, procedures…
    The only thing I could find on the net is a Captivate demo. Now, there is nothing wrong with Captivate as a tool, but providing a 30-minute animation for people who just want to hit the ball hard, is like torturing them. Why not provide brief, task based animations? After 15 minutes, the animation starts to explain how to fill in your whereabouts, and continues for at least 10 minutes…

WADA, Vlaamse Overheid, if you need any help, let me know. I see it as my contribution to Belgian top tennis.