We eVision It

Make Your Own Avatars

dwiggi — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:50:33 +0000

Animating Clip Art for Custom Characters

http://evision-design.com/ClipArtDemo/ClipArtDemo.html

I know a lot of people have been resistant to using clip-art in their trainings, mostly because the clip art out there was poor resolution and didn’t have enough graphical value. But current clip art is worth a look. There are some fantastic vector images that can be ungrouped to offer more flexibility. And it’s free! In this economy, that’s hard to pass up.

All the World’s A Stage….Including eLearning
We love using stunning, custom photography as much as any other company but that gets expensive. By using Clip Art characters we save on our budget and create custom characters that create a virtual world that everyone can identify with.

Clip-art is now made up of many, many individual pieces that can be ungrouped, rearranged or replaced with other pieces, depending on our needs.

The concept is still the same – change the hair, try on a different outfit, add some glasses or a hat – and you’ve got a new character. We do the same thing in theatre when we’re running short of actors. Time to improvise and get creative!

Tom Kuhlmann, from Articulate’s team, did a recent blog on this topic
that gives you a great “how to”:
http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/
what-you-need-to-know-when-working-with-grouped-clip-art/

So, speaking of the stage, in PowerPoint the slide is our stage. That is what our audience, the learner, sees. But the ‘wings’ are a great place to get your characters ready to come onto the stage, giving the illusion that there is more to the ‘world’ than what the learner is actually seeing.

Check out this demo to see a step-by-step demonstration of how to do this:

http://www.evision-design.com/ClipArtDemo/ClipArtDemo.html

By using a “freeform” motion path, you will bring your character ‘on-stage’, with a realistic walk. If you use a simple straight motion path the character looks a bit robotic. We can’t see his feet, but we get the idea that he’s walking, bringing us a little further into this virtual world.

Guru Awards Mention for eVision

dwiggi — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:24:44 +0000

http://www.articulate.com/community/showcase/?page_id=138

We were thrilled to be mentioned in the recent 2009 Guru Awards for our “unique vector graphics.”

Edu-Punk: In search of a new LMS

dwiggi — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:06:11 +0000

http://davidtjones.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/down-with-the-cookie-cutter-lms-the-edupunk-ideology-and-why-integrated-systems-might-go-away/

We ran across this great video discussion of the Edupunk idea, really just a punk-rock phrase for “shaking up the system”. We’re all for it. We are searching (for various clients) for great LMS products, web-based solutions, Moodles and other delivery formats that can deliver the content that we build in more robust ways. Technical problems, slow-streaming video, server speed and other aspects of delivering trainings, demos & eLearning materials make it frustrating for all.

Can’t someone just build an awesome holodeck already, Star Trek-style?

We’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts on great solutions.

“See and Say”: Why It Rocks

dwiggi — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:20:00 +0000

The term “See and say” was a fundamental and basic idea of TV advertising.

The idea is that if you are trying to convey something to someone and you want them to actually get it then you’d better be “saying” what they are “seeing”.

If you want to keep your learner really engaged, have them really get the material and retain it, it’s a great idea to work with an instructional designer. A talented instructional designer will be able to lay out material that was previously in PowerPoint bullet lists or print material in such a way that the learner can take it all in. This involves breaking down thought processes in a linear way and relaying the information cleanly & clearly.

Be sure when you go through your trainings, that the text the narrator reads is what’s on your slide. You’d be surprised how often a training involves reading one thing while looking at another.

Creating Interactivity in PowerPoint

dwiggi — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:06:34 +0000

Recently, we got turned on to some excellent advice about how to create interactivity within PowerPoint. Wow! We don’t have to hire an expensive Flash designer??

Check out Tom’s post here:

http://redirx.com/?0vkp

“Death By PowerPoint”

dwiggi — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:01:24 +0000

eVisionDesign is a strong proponent that PowerPoint slides are just blank canvases waiting to be drawn upon.

When using PowerPoint for eLearning development, we think of each slide as a storyboard transition, much the way a film director would shoot each scene. Think of each idea that you want to convey and realize that each sentence spoken by your voiceover narrator needs some visual to cement the material for the learner.

Check out Presentation Zen to get a feel for these ideas. Also check out Edward Tufte. And while you’re at it, did you know David Byrne fell in love with PowerPoint and took it on the road? Seriously.

Adobe Presenter & Articulate

dwiggi — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:48:10 +0000

For custom trainings, Adobe Presenter offers a few real high points:

Ease of use – The interface is very intuitive
Using video in-slide is very easy in Presenter and has few bugs that I’ve found when you publish. You can now insert .swf or .flv files with few or no problems.
Before Articulate came out with their ‘09 solution, the rendering was better in Presenter. But now Articulate has stepped it up.
The high cost of getting the Presenter stand-alone used to be daunting but the price went down this year making it an economical choice. I just hope that with eLearning growing at exponential rates, we’ll soon see Adobe giving the Presenter program more love. There are a few bugs that can be pretty annoying (though there are helpful tips at the new Connect Forum).

Articulate ‘09 has vastly improved its offering. In the ‘09 edition:

Articulate does some really innovative stuff in both Engage and Quizmaker. You can be somewhat limited in trying to customize the individual pieces (background images, button colors, etc.) but the generics they’ve created are so good you might not want to.
Rendering is excellent and Articulate publishes Smart Art (from the PPT 07 version) with none of the problems we’ve experienced when using the Adobe product. A huge bonus.
The interface is also really easy to use and you can get a lot more support on blogs and with the Articulate staff than I’ve experienced with Adobe.

Since both of these products are rendering PowerPoint into Flash, they can both have some bugs. Hopefully as eLearning develops, they’ll get worked out. It can be frustrating but the Articulate team is responsive and helpful:

http://www.articulate.com/forums/