The Writers Gateway

6 Reasons To Use Amplify for Collaborative Learning

amplify

I recently came across this website called Amplify that works just like Twitter and other social networking sites. However Amplify seems to be a much more effective tool for collaborative learning than any other freely available learning tools today. I say this taking into account some of the unique features in Amplify.

There are top 6 Features in Amplify that makes it an effective tool for collaborative learning. Here is the list:

Amplify Add-in : You can integrate Amplify into your web browser and it acts just like a Go button. Every time you come across an interesting article, you can share it with others within seconds without any manual entry.
Amplify URL/Amplify Selection options: These options are really interesting. In Amplify, you have the option of sharing portions of a web resource. For example, if you want to share an interesting finding about usage of e-learning from a report, you can highlight a specific portion in the report and share it with others.
Add you take option: This is the best option in Amplify. Every time you share information, you can add your 2 cents to it. So when you share resources with others, they get to read your perspectives/thoughts/opinions about the topic.
Recommend option: If you find an interesting resource posted by your friends, you can recommend it. You do not have to repost it.
Amplify Daily Brief: Every day you receive a list of resources posted or recommended by your friends. So even if you are not checking the site, you get to check the resources through your mailbox.
Integration with Popular Social Networking sites: You can sign into Amplify using your Twitter or Facebook accounts. This makes life easy

The features above do make Amplify an effective tool for collaborative learning. For example, if four students are working on a research paper, all of them can sign into Amplify and follow one another. During the process of researching, each of them can keep posting resources to Amplify. The resources could be full length articles, quotations from e-books, interesting findings from reports and so on. The resources can be qualified with personal comments/thoughts/ideas. Amplify will help the students to collate information, discuss and share ideas/thoughts as they work on their paper.

Amplify could also be used by organizations for employee training and learning. May be Amplify could be integrated into the corporate intranet or learning portal. Last but not the least, I must say I love the user interface design of Amplify and on a usability scale of 5, I would rate it as 4.5.

Now I would love to hear from you:

Have you used Amplify? What is your take on its use for collaborative learning?

Please share your thoughts.

How Technology Can Persuade You to Learn!

How do you train someone to become a great manager? How easy or difficult is to train someone on leadership skills?

Are classroom training programs or online training programs on leadership skills enough?

A great leader never gets manufactured in a classroom. Why? Because leadership has lot got to do with behavioral and attitude change and this kind of change cannot be achieved through ordinary training programs. Great leadership skill need to come from within and that is very difficult to achieve.

As the saying goes” You can take the horse to water, but never make him drink it“.You can give people tips on leadership skills but you cannot get the leader out of them.

What if you can persuade people to perform? How about persuading someone to do something that you want him to do? Be it a behavioural change or an attitude change, how about using technology to achieve this? Interesting?

Yes, it is interesting indeed.

Using technology you can persuade someone to do something that you want them to do. This is not new. This is something that you are used to. You are used to getting persuaded by technology.

Online advertisements are persuasive. You go to a website. There is a pop up with attractive visuals that says “Click here to win.” The advertisement is persuading you to click on the banner.
Facebook is persuasive. The whole site is designed in a way that you feel like visiting the site again and again.
Mafia Wars is persuasive. You are feel like playing the game all the time.

The examples above illustrate how websites and games are designed to persuade people to play a game, visit a site or click on an advertisement.

Let us now look at one other interesting example of persuasive technology for learning/training. A company called Realityworks offers parenting programs for young people to create awareness about parenting and childcare. So what do they do? They develop robotic babies that behave and act like real babies.

If you enroll for this parenting program, you will be given this robotic baby to take care of and the baby must be fed, put to sleep diapered around the clock. The baby will keep track of how well you take care of it and will respond. Interesting? Strange? Whatever it may be. Technology here is being used in a innovative fashion to bring about a change in behavior which might be difficult to achieve through an awareness session or through a mentor.

Check out these interesting videos about Real Care Baby:

The parenting programs designed by RealityWorks is to control teen pregnancy. Read more on this here.

Persuasive technologies give you a real experience and can work wonders to bring about a behavioral and attitude change. The study of such persuasive technologies is called Captology. This term was coined by BJ Fogg.

I learnt about Captology and found the interesting example of Baby Care in this social network called: PINOT.

It is really interesting to note the way technology is being used to bring about a behavioral and attitude change.

Have you come across some such examples? Please feel free to share it.

The Writers Gateway Turns 3!

happy_bday

Hello All,

Today I complete 3 years of blogging and it really means a lot to me. This blog now has 222 posts, close to 600 comments and nearly 200 feed readers. I have got some really nice feedback on my posts and my blog. Thanks to all of you who helped me reach this far.

When I started blogging in 2007, I never thought I would learn so much through my blogging efforts. I got a chance to network with wonderful learning experts across the globe. I also made friends with my fellow learning professionals in India. This has been possible only because of this blog.

I realize the immense value of blogging very much this year especially now that I am an independent instructional designer. This blog has opened up great opportunities for me and that it why it is so close to my heart.

Today I would like to call out to every fresh Instructional Designer to start blogging. Take my word. It really helps!

I thank all my readers for motivating me to write more. I thank all my fellow instructional designers and learning experts across the globe for being a great inspiration for me to sustain my blogging efforts.

I hope to share all the knowledge that I gain through my learning process the coming year too.

Please wish Writers Gateway a very happy birthday!

And yes, please wish me good luck! I need lots of it

regards

Rupa

Are You a Fresher Looking for a Job in Instructional Design?

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Times are changing. Getting a job as a fresher is no longer so easy, I guess. At least that’s what the popular job portals in India tell me. I was checking some popular job portals and found that most employers require candidates with atleast 1 year of experience in Instructional Design. This does say a lot about the current job market.

This does not mean getting a job as a stark fresher is impossible. This means as a fresher with 0 experience in Instructional Design, YOU need to work hard to make it happen.

I have been training people in Instructional Design myself and I understand how important it is for them to get a job. This is when I thought of some ways in which freshers might be able to fight their way through this tough market.

So here are some tips for freshers looking for jobs in Instructional Design:

Decide what you want to do

The first step is to spend some time reading through job descriptions and decide what you want to do. Never go for brand names. Always go by job descriptions and your interests. For example, if you like working with technology, you can consider trying for a curriculum developer role in a software company. On the other hand if you like working on various subjects, you can join a company that is into custom e-learning. At the outset, be very clear about the kind of work you want to do. Remember Instructional Design is very vast!

Gain some basic Instructional Design skills

If you do not have time to take up a 3 month certification course in Instructional Design, try finding a mentor who can help you out or try a short duration course to gain some basic Instructional Design skills.

Understand Instructional Design and what Instructional Designers do

It is not important to remember instructional theories. It is more important for you to understand what instructional design is all about in simple terms and have a good understanding of the activities involved in creating training material (online and classroom). Most importantly, try to find out what freshers are expected to do when they join organizations.

Get your portfolio ready

As a fresher,having a portfolio might be not so easy. However remember times have changed. Employers want to hire people who can deliver and bring out results. Your portfolio can have sample storyboards. Carry some sample storyboards while you go for an interview.

If you know how to work with rapid e-learning tools, create a 2 minute learning video and add it to your portfolio. If you do not know how to work with a rapid e-learning tool, spend some time learning the tool on your own. Tools like Captivate are easy to use and easy to learn too.

Highlight your interest/knowledge/skills in your CV

When you write your CV, highlight your interest/knowledge/skills in Instructional Design. You might have been a lecturer in a college or a technical writer. While you write about your achievements, make sure you also communicate why someone must hire you.

Do not expect HR personnels to call you

Be proactive. Keep your eyes open for all kinds of opportunities. Submit your CV in all job portals. Contact some HR consultant and inform him/her that you are on the lookout.

Do not lose heart

If you fail in one or two job interview, remember that is not the end. Keep trying. Be patient. Things will work out if you work towards your goal persistently.

Do not stop learning

Let job interviews not distract you. Let failures not discourage you. During your free time, read about Instructional Design, practice writing and take up visualization exercises. Remember the more you practice, you will get better and better.

Learn from failures

Make a note of the questions asked in the interview. Reflect and think how you could have done better. If you attend 2 or 3 interviews, you will get an idea about the kind of questions people ask and what they expect. Prepare accordingly.

Network with Other Learning Professionals

Join a community for learning professionals such as Instructional Designers Community of India. Network with learning professionals and try finding opportunity through people.

Hope these tips help you.

If you want to add on to this, please do it in the Comments section.

Instructional Designers Meetup Jan 30, 2010 Across Cities in India

January 30, 2010 is going to be an eventful day. Instructional Designers across cities in India are going to meet in groups in their own city. This is going to be the first meeting organized by the Instructional Designers Community of India this year.

More than 50 Instructional Designers have RSVPd for the meetup. This is a great number to start with.

If you are in India, make sure you show up in the location specified in each of the cities below:

events

Update: Chennai meetup is happening at 11 AM in : Element K India Pvt. Ltd. RR Tower II, 4th Floor (you will need to sign in on 4th floor), Thiru-Vi-Ka Industrial Estate Guindy, Chennai 600 032 INDIA

It is not too late yet. RSVP for the meetup here. If your city is in the list, please feel free to gang up with your fellow Instructional Designers in a coffee shop or park.

Do not forget to:

Take pics
Take the minutes of the meeting

Let us have a great time on 30th Jan

Ribbon Hero – A Cool Game to Hone Your MS Office Skills

Microsoft has launched the prototype of a game called Ribbon Hero which will help people boost MS Office knowledge and skills. You just have to download and install Ribbon Hero. It acts as an add-in in MS Word, MS PowerPoint etc.

How does it work?

Every time you use a feature in MS Word or MS Powerpoint, you gain points for it. If you use advanced features, you gain more points. This cool add-in allows you to connect with friends in Facebook, compete and compare scores with them.

Here is a video that gives an overview of Ribbon Hero.

Here is a snapshot of my scores and progress:

Microsoft has also designed a lot of mini games which you will find if you click the Play Challenge button.

My View

I like the way Web 2.0 has been used to design this simple learning game. Since this is a multiplayer game, it will attract lot of attention and the best thing is you learn and gain points while you do your regular work.

I would give 4/5 for Ribbon Hero for just the idea and concept. I still have to figure out how effective this is going to be.

What do you think?

Learning in 3D is Fascinating!

BlogTourStop

I get surprised when I hear people buying virtual stuff. I always wonder why they do it and what kind of satisfaction they must be getting in buying things that they cannot touch and feel. Well, I realize I am not quite different from those people. I get so involved in playing Farmville and get so immersed in the activity that everytime I harvest and make money I feel so happy. When I bought my cottage, I felt as if I had bought it in real life. This is the kind of impact the immersive internet can create.

I have always found virtual worlds fascinating and I have always wanted to explore more into immersive learning. I was completely excited when Professor Karl Kapp invited me to be a part of his blog book tour. I was thrilled to read his book: Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration. The book talks about the relevance of immersive learning today and gives ample guidelines to create a 3DLE (3D Learning Experience).

In this post I would love to pick up some interesting points from the book authored by Prof Karl Kapp and Tony O’Driscoll.

To begin with here is a good definition of 3DLE from the book:

A 3DLE is a highly immersive virtual environment in which the learners act and interact in real – time with each other and with the instructor to accomplish a challenge or task.

is a highly immersive virtual environ-

ment in which the learners act and interact in real – time with each other and

with the instructor to accomplish a challenge or task.

The authors nicely distinguish between 2D and 3D learning environments. In a 2D learning environment, web conferencing tools , chat facilities, whiteboard, application sharing etc. are used to drive interactivity. Whereas in a 3D learning environment is a highly immersive virtual environment where learners interact real time with one another and with the instructor and are emotionally involved to complete a challenge or task.

I like the way it is said in the book that in a 3DLE, content is king, but context is kingdom.

This book has lots of tips for Instructional Designers to design a 3DLE and has a lot of case studies too. I particularly liked the 7th chapter that talks about designing and developing a 3DLE. I loved the use of stories to illustrate what it takes to design a 2D learning environment and a 3D learning experience.

Some interesting points in this chapter are:

An Instructional Designer should be a Context Designer while designing 3DLE and consider things like building architecture, peer – to – peer interactions, informal learning spaces, and learner – to – object interactions.
When you design virtual learning experience, you need to focus on context, objectives and give lot of scope for collaboration. You must provide opportunity for demonstrating learning.

This chapter discusses how you can use ADDIE process to design a 3DLE.

To learn more, please read the book. Its worth it. Check out the Learning in 3D webiste and the buy the book here.

You can get a discount of 20% by using the code L3D1 at the Pfieffer/Wiley web site

Enjoy the book

Is it Skill or Will?

Consider this story:

A girl who works in a call center wants to become an Instructional Designer. Her writing skills are average. However she has this strong urge to learn. She gets motivated by creative work. She is willing to put in lot of hard work.

She finds Instructional Design interesting. She has gained some basic Instructional Design skills and is enthused to apply her skills and is excited about securing a job.

Now such a girl goes for a test in a company that is into e-learning development. She goes there sharp at 2 pm. She is made to wait for an hour. She is then given a test. The girl attempts the test and completes it on time. The interviewer tells her she can leave and she will be called for,if she clears the test. By the time the girl leaves the company it is 7 pm.

What happened next?

The girl got completely disheartened. She assumed that she has not done well in the test because the interviewer did not tell her anything. She got frustrated that after such a long wait, she got no feedback.

What might happen?

She might now lack confidence and might hesitate to become an Instructional Designer.

My Point

A person with poor language skills wants to become a writer. You know it is difficult. You think that person must not try to become a writer and do something else. Have you ever thought it will be great if that person becomes a writer because it is not IMPOSSIBLE?

There are so many ways in which we can thwart budding talent and discourage people. There are equally umpteen ways in which we can motivate and instill confidence in people. You can hire the best minds, the best people for your company. You might also be able to retain the best talent. Every other company is looking for “Great Instructional Designers, Great Programmers, Great Writers…. etc. etc.” What about the average crowd? What about the so called non-performers?

The real challenge is in turning a non-performer into a performer. The real success is in motivating an average mind to turn into a brilliant mind.

Are companies ready for this challenge?

A few days back Archana had written a post that had some really good guidelines to understand learners. She had written those guidelines in the context of kids and schools. I would apply those guidelines to freshers trying to enter companies.

With your permission Archana, I am rephrasing some of those guidelines here for all those who are hiring freshers.

You do not judge the capacity of a fresher by their performance in a test or by their behaviour the first time you meet.
Never underestimate someone’s capacity to perform.
Give people a chance to demonstrate. That’s why you have something called “Probation Period”.
Do not try to hire the best minds always. The so called best minds might fail to perform.
Do not expect people to know everything. Create an environment where people in your organization continuously learn and improve.
Do not try to fit people to your requirements. Rather hire people and train them so that they fit your requirements.
Do not throw questions at freshers. Try to enter into a discussion and understand how much they know, how much they are interested.

The bottom line is “It is not just SKILL/KNOWLEDGE but the WILL to perform and to put in hard work that makes for a good performer.

What say?

Got 2 Minutes for Learning?

I just read a blog post by Upside Learning and got inspired to write this post.

What I learnt?

Upside Learning has partenered with Skill-Pill of UK and are working on developing 2 minute learning videos that you can access on your mobile. You can access these videos anytime, anywhere. Skill-Pills can cover topics such as leadership. business english, management, personal skills and so on.

Here is an awesome video on 2 minute learning videos:

Here are some demos of 2 minute videos here.

I find this idea of 2 minute videos fascinating. These 2 minute videos can work very well like cheatsheets, or job aids. I think learner analysis and requirements gathering has to be done really extensively because you have to teach someone what they need most in just 2 minutes.

I would love to explore more into the design of these 2 minutes videos. Hopefully Upside Learning will post some

Meanwhile, please let me know if any of you have created such 2 minute videos. Would love to hear from you.

Instructional Design Basics for Stark Beginners

Hello All,

I am pleased to announce a training program on Instructional Design for beginners. You should consider this training program, if you are someone who has no clue about Instructional Design and wants to gain basic Instructional Design skills to get productive at work. This training will adopt a fast-paced approach with emphasis on learning by doing.

After the training, you will be able to :

Effectively gather requirements for an online training program
Conduct gap analysis
Conduct target audience analysis
Study and analyze raw content
Create instructional objectives
Derive the course outline
Design course flow
Design Instructional Strategies
Design Assessments
Create a Storyboard

Who should take this training: Aspiring Instructional Designers/Fresh Instructional Designers/Technical Writers/Teachers

Total training duration: 10 days ( 6 hours per day), Flexi timings.

Mode : Classroom Training

Location: Bangalore

This training is open to individuals and corporates.

If you wish to get more details on this training, please fill this form here or leave your query in the Comments section here.

The Writers Gateway

6 Reasons To Use Amplify for Collaborative Learning

How Technology Can Persuade You to Learn!

The Writers Gateway Turns 3!

Are You a Fresher Looking for a Job in Instructional Design?

Instructional Designers Meetup Jan 30, 2010 Across Cities in India

Ribbon Hero – A Cool Game to Hone Your MS Office Skills

Learning in 3D is Fascinating!

Is it Skill or Will?

Got 2 Minutes for Learning?

Instructional Design Basics for Stark Beginners

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Want to learn Instructional Design?

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