KerryJ's Neotenous Tech

Sky Drive Live + PowerPoint Web App = learning object?

KerryJ — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 06:28:10 +0000

I’ve been looking at ways of taking myself out of the production cycle when it comes to creating online resources and turning more of that work over to our facilitators. As well, we’re introducing more and more facilitators to the flipped classroom model of having students prepare and interrogate learning materials in advance of face to face sessions, so I’m exploring easy ways of transforming classroom resources into online learning tools.

PowerPoint is a tool that many facilitators use every day, yet from my conversations with them and in looking at what they have created, I found that there was a lot of potential for improvement.

My first step has been to talk with my colleagues about how they use PowerPoint and to introduce some base concepts as to what makes for more engaging presentations. Most of them have excellent skills in group facilitation gleaned from group work in counselling and community services, so there was a great information exchange happening. Some are saddled with presentations created by others and due to contractual obligations have very little wiggle room at present. However, most were open to learning and one in particular was excited at the prospect of eliminating text and injecting visuals into her slides.

So I put together a PowerPoint Content Basics presentation and presented it at our monthly staff meeting (click More to see it):

Power point basics content-1 from Kerry J

It was well received and people were talking about it after I left and have told me since it was helpful.

My second step is to look at how they could potentially use their PowerPoints as the basis of learning objects.

Articulate Storyline can take in PowerPoints and allow you to do some very sophisticated programming including incorporating interactive assessments, branched learning, info popups on hovers, animations, embedded media and hook into the gradebooks of learning management systems. There are going to be some courses for which this is going to be a great tool – so training my facilitators who are often SMEs as well on how to structure a PowerPoint to optimise my time in Articulate is a definite next step. We have to be careful to balance WCAG requirements with this tool but it can be done.

However, if I stopped there, we’d have a bottleneck. While we want quality control on learning objects, I want more options for learning object creation.

SlideShare is an option I’m considering but with links not always working and some privacy concerns, I’m not sure it’s going to work for us.

And thus to the content related to the title of this post…

Microsoft’s Sky Drive offers free storage, has cloud-based versions of programs to create documents and a desktop app for uploading. I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to it because at work we have SharePoint and at home I use Google Drive.

However — Sky Drive has the PowerPoint Web App. When you upload a PowerPoint to SkyDrive, it then allows you to generate embed code that you can then embed on a web page. Links stay intact, animations work if people click on the slides rather than advancing them and users can click to view the PowerPoint full screen. Like this:

It’s limitations are:

you cannot embed video or audio – at least not on the free version. I found a PowerPoint plug in that allows me to embed YouTube videos in my PowerPoint - http://skp.mvps.org/youtube.htm - but it won’t work on SkyDrive because it’s a Visual Basic macro.
it does not allow you to choose the embedded player’s size. This is not an issue for me but could be for our facilitators. I can always go in and clean up after the ones afraid to touch code I suppose and still save time.
it does not allow you to hide the number of slides – which is okay for most presentations. However, if you want to throw in a few multiple choice questions and hide the answer slides from linear navigation, the hidden slides still count toward the total. See this embedded slide show:

Still, I think it’s a viable option for information-delivery-only learning objects. I’m working about how to manage account risks (am thinking the organisation needs to own the accounts, not facilitators) and will write those up as part of the proposal that will include training and procedures. It’s easy to to use, gives a visual, interactive way of presenting basic information, can be navigated without a mouse and is simple to create. Yes, I think I’m liking Sky Drive + PowerPoint – but I’ll be doing more mad scientist experiments and perhaps some test-marketing first.

UPDATE:

My husband has advised me that I might be able to over-ride the style sheet for the embedded player to hide the slide numbers by possibly adding code to the CSS sheet for the course themes in Moodle as follows:

#WACStatusBarContainer .cui-statusbar .cui-ctl-mediumlabel, #WACStatusBarContainer .cui-statusbar .cui-fslb {
display:none;
}

Obviously as soon as they went full screen, the information would display again.

Browser basics – an introduction

KerryJ — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 09:42:40 +0000

As e-learning is now mainstream and initiatives like Skills for All is encouraging people to seek out training, I’m finding a significant number of our new students undertaking e-learning lack some basic skills.

When we endeavour to troubleshoot issues, it seems to take longer to help people, they are getting easily confused and can’t always get to where they need to go.

Some of this can obviously be chalked up to brains going into panic mode, lack of experience, cognitive overload – but it was happening too often for these to be the only reasons.

I changed tack with some of the learners who lived locally and invited them come into the office. I found that there were two issues I hadn’t considered.

One, was that people lacked the basic vocabulary that would allow them to interact with the people attempting to help them. When a support person asks a client or student what version their browser is and the students do not know what a browser is – you are lacking a valuable shared vocabulary.

Another bizarre issue I’ve had is students telling me they can get to our web site just fine from the email link – but not when I am talking them through typing it into their browser. Even allowing for spelling errors. I discovered there are people who might say on their pre-course IT skills surveys they’ve used the internet for years — but have been using their browsers incorrectly.

So, I’ve created a video that I hope will help my fellow e-learning designers, online facilitators and their learners and clients. The video introduces the very basics of using the top three browsers used by laptops and desktops: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla FireFox.

In making the video for The Klevar Group, I learned that all three could do a better job for n00bs in terms of navigation and common settings. I also decided to make one video showing all three browsers because I feel it’s important for people to see more than one in action. There are some web sites that don’t work well with Google Chrome but do with Internet Explorer and vice versa so I know I need both.

I hope you find this helpful.

Says who?

KerryJ — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 02:42:26 +0000

Say what? by Mario Inoportuno CC by nc nd

There is a really sloppy habit creeping into rhetoric used by so-called authorities that is not only sloppy but manipulative. It is going unchallenged and it needs to BE challenged by the public where possible and journalists whenever it comes up in interviews or stories.

Politicians use the following phrase to command authority for their personal opinions or to rebut an opponent’s view: “THE AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE DON’T/DO WANT…” and fill in the blank with their own opinions. This is going unquestioned by journalists and should be pounced on immediately. Any journo worth his or her salt should do what my 9th grade English teacher used to do – interrupt the politician in question with the phrase “Says who or what?” Come ON – there are professional journalists with decades of experience who are letting this fly through to the keeper. To those of you interviewers letting this happen: DO YOUR JOB and ask the politician presuming to speak for the nation to quote a survey from a credible source so we can analyse the sample size and research methodology and determine whether or not this is actually how this group thinks/feels.

The rhetorical strategy for this is obvious. Being on the winning side or the side of popular opinion feels good. It’s why election results are held back until polling stations close – so people won’t switch their votes to the winner.

Of course, journos use this too. Today I saw a headline in the local newspaper saying “Why women love tattoos”. Really? ALL WOMEN? I’m a woman and don’t “love” tattoos. Neither do my mother, sister or dozens of others I know. What sloppy writing that headline was – and it can’t be blamed on the dearth of copy editors.

If this habit has crept into your own rhetoric – stop. Do your homework. Do “people” feel this way or is it just your mob/tribe? I’ve been turning my frustration about this phenomenon toward this positive change in myself. One of my favourite quotes this week sums up this change: “My opinions change with new information.” Of course, I interrogate that information first – and ask “Says WHO?”

Gambling and Gaming

KerryJ — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 05:43:36 +0000

The not for profit that I work for is doing some research into gambling and gaming (for background see Crikey’s article from 15 November 2012http://blogs.crikey.com.au/game-on/2012/11/15/gambling-on-a-game-fifa-13-and-virgin-gaming/ ). They could really use some first person perspectives on this to wrap their heads around what’s happening.

Have you or any gamers in your life run into advertisements for gaming in your games?
Has gambling actually been a part of game play within a game you tried?
What about any apps or snack/short games?
Have you or a friend/family member made or lost real money in these games?
Is there someone in your life that has become addicted to gambling through gaming?
Or, have you researched gaming and gambling and have resources you’d be willing to share?

Please leave a comment below and please share it if you know someone who could share some insights with us – and via Twitter if you’re comfy doing that. We’d really like to get some conversations started. If you’d like to share some info but don’t want to do it publicly, send an email to c.ralfs@rasa.org.au

PHOTO: PKR.com Screenshot by John Seb Barber, CC (by)

Sweet 16 or so things I need to remember about Articulate Storyline

KerryJ — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 05:09:18 +0000

Another messy blog post that’s all about things I want/need to remember…

1) It caches like STEEL TRAP. If you make changes, you need to click Preview to see them. Just changing, saving and hitting play will not always show your new edits.
2) To bring in bullet points one by one, you need to choose an animation type in the animation tab – then select – by first level paragraph.
3) Video embedded in the slides will not provide the option to expand to full screen. If you have small details, you will need to upload your video and may be able to embed the player – YouTube works a treat. I was unable to do so using our proprietary media server Viostream as its player requires javascript be embedded in the header tags of page templates. Just trying to trigger Javascript didn’t work.
4) CTL Z doesn’t work as expected. I found I bounced back to previous slides. Not sure why this happens, but don’t assume it will work as expected.
5) Don’t assume the sound quality you hear as you edit or preview is the final version. It is a compressed preview version – you need to publish to hear the full quality.
6) Javascript doesn’t work in Preview mode. Test slides with Javascript by copying them into their own project and publishing.
7) Set text boxes to “Do Not Autofit” – this sometimes doesn’t seem to stick between computers.
8) If using a line in mic for screen captures, go to screen capture mode, Turn off mic (line in won’t come up as an option anyway, I disabled my mic in Windows 7 just to be sure), select your line in as SPEAKER.
9) When timing several objects on screen to audio, where possible, record audio in chunks and match up to events.
10) Watch for events that aren’t timed to last until end of screen if you want them there. Some are set to appear for a set length of time and won’t allow you to adjust slide duration. Others cut out just before the end and disappear.
11) When shortening the length of a slide, if an event has a fixed time it will blow past its cue point so that it can stay on for its set length of time.
12) Set up a name for the variable you want to change that you’ll remember – the more generic, the more margin for error. Ensure you’re changing a T/F value or text as relevant.
13) Trigger order matters! Where possible, find a template that does what you want and backward engineer it. There are loads out there programmed by clever people.
14) To pull out MP4 vidoes when using Storyline for screen captures, you should set up a New Project first, just for your screen capture. Once a screen capture is complete, you’ll insert it into a slide – pick the single slide option – then need to go back up to screen capture, act like you want to insert it again, but this time right click on the video you see and save it as MP4.
15) If you plan on publishing Storyline as a SCORM package in an LMS, you will need to program the Next key on your last slide to Exit.
16) If you plan on publishing Storyline as a SCORM package in an LMS,the end message “The content has ended. You may close this window” isn’t useful for Moodle courses. To change it, publish it but DON’T EXIT THE PROJECT and DON’T ZIP. Go to the folder where the output was published, open the named folder, go to te LMS folder, right click on the Goodbye.html file and open in your fav editor (I use Notepad ++). Edit the message to something like “To return to the main course page, click on the course name in the horizontal text navigation at the top left of this page.” Save the file and close it. Go back to the Articulate project and THEN zip the project using the options in the publishing window there. Then, upload the zip to Moodle. You could of course get fancy and program a button or link to link directly back to the course page…

Students having display issues in Moodle 2.3 in courses with collapsed topics? Check for Screen Reader

KerryJ — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:02:41 +0000

A very quick post to share an issue we just uncovered this morning.

I’ve had 3 students complain that since the upgrade to Moodle 2.3, they aren’t seeing their course correctly. With one student, I spent half an hour going through her browser set up, ensuring Javascript was enabled, content settings weren’t restrictive – nothing.

The course uses the Collapsed Topics course format.

Then this morning in a face to face session, one student showed a second student the issues she was having. The second student logged into the web site using the first students’ computer and had no issues. A third student in the session is also having issues. Our facilitator came to me, very excited and told me about it and I looked at each student’s profile. The ones having problems both had Screen Reader marked as YES in their Profile Settings.

I changed the user settings on my test student account to match and logged in using Google Chrome, then FireFox then Internet Explorer. Sure enough, the page layout was askew. I changed it back, no issues. So, I’ve updated the profiles of all the students who were having issues!

Yay and what a relief! My facilitator really likes Collapsed topics as a course format and I would have hated to switch students over in their first few weeks.

Fake it ’til you become it

KerryJ — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 22:46:15 +0000

The study of body language is fascinating and a vital part of communication.

But did you know that the way you hold yourself can change your brain and body – and even your life?

This incredible Ted Talk by Amy Cuddy shares the research and science behind how just two minutes can impact your state of mind.

Keeping instructions simple

KerryJ — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 02:55:12 +0000

Recently I encountered a situation where in order for learners to gain access to videos they needed to watch, they had to log into one web site, then open a new browser tab to log into another site, then go back to the first to watch the videos. This isn’t too difficult for most – but some learners who did not understand terms like “open new tab”, “browser” or “address bar” had issues. I set out to improve the instructions, then realised that they were blowing out to half a page. The penny dropped. It wasn’t the instructions that needed improving.

The situation is resolved now and all need for instructions beyond click to play has been eliminated.

This morning, my husband was chuckling over this video and I thought it the perfect illustration of what happens when trying to solve a learner performance issue through detailed instructions — when all this guy really needed was either a) a horse or b) to say “follow me”.

CollegeHumor’s Favorite Funny Videos

Give your brain a break!

KerryJ — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 06:33:36 +0000

This weekend an online learner wrote to me saying she was feeling a bit overwhelmed with a unit of study. She’d set aside a day to complete one unit and came away feeling stressed. I know she isn’t alone in trying to do this – catch up with a week’s work in one day. I know I have tried this in the past. I’d like to share what I wrote to her (which she said helped) and then some research that I found today that backed up my suggestions:

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with me. Learning online can take some time to adjust to, and I hope you find the following to be useful to you:

First of all, feeling overwhelmed is a universal experience for online learners. Part of it stems from the fact that in traditional learning settings, work is gradually assigned and spaced out whereas online, all the work is exposed . Our brains are goal-oriented, so when they see a whole pile of work, they want to tackle it all in one session and we end up feeling overwhelmed and stressed out.

When I started learning online I experienced this too, but talked to friends who shared the following advice: to keep from feeling overwhelmed (which I certainly did at times during the first online course I took), develop a strategy of skimming through the unit for the week and look at the readings and assignments, then break up the work into smaller chunks and create mini-assignments spaced throughout the week. As well, doing this at the start of the week helped me to identify any questions I needed to ask the course facilitator or to ensure I had time to learn any new tools I needed to use.

For instance – for me, Mondays were scoping day, Tuesdays and Thursdays major reading days, Wednesdays were my night to cook, Fridays were social nights, Saturdays I did minor assignments and outlined the major assignment between housework chores and Sundays I’d tackle the major assignment for the week in the morning or afternoon and the other half of the day was free. That way I’d spread 9 hours or so hours of work over multiple days and give my brain a chance to absorb and reflect between sessions. (I’d like to add here that this also worked for courses taking 20 hours per week. I just had less free days…)

Some weeks were easier than others due to my schedule and the nature of the work, but the “scoping” exercise at the start of each new week helped me feel more in control than when I would try to do an entire unit in a day.

The research I found this morning is Australian I’m happy to report. Cognitive neuroscientist Dr Joel Pearson (UNSW) has published research findings saying that learners who give their brains a break during the course of learning allow for “wakeful consolidation”. While there are many studies that look at learning consolidation while sleeping, this study found that once you’ve done a certain amount of study, your brain goes into consolidation mode – so trying to push it to do more is not helpful. One hour seemed to be enough.

The study is available for download from the Royal Society of Biological Sciences web site in PDF form or you can download it here: When more equals less -overtraining

Photo “Overflow by Paul Quinn Photography CC (by)

Customising Articulate Storyline’s LMS Goodbye message

KerryJ — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 03:15:42 +0000

I’m on a steep learning curve with a new piece of software (Articulate Storyline) and writing tutorials about another piece of software that I’m not offay with. Not a comfortable place to be but the challenge is pushing me and being uncomfortable is okay now and again. It’s when I end up learning the most.

I’ve learned that Moodle doesn’t handle SCORM comfortably – no matter what the SCORM package, whether it opens in the same window or a new one, horizontal and vertical scroll bars show up – even when the learning object is set to size dynamically. It’s as if Moodle builds in a 10 pixel or so pad in reverse – always 10 pixels width and height are hidden somehow. This doesn’t matter so much on height, but it’s a pain in the bum on width!

With Articulate Storyline, another issue is that regardless of whether or not you’ve set the player to open in a new window, it outputs the same message to an LMS along the lines of: You’ve finished the content. Close the window.

Unfortunately following this instruction exactly would result in students closing their Moodle sessions unintentionally.

I found the file to edit, but I learned that I needed to do it after Publishing from Articulate but before allowing Articulate to zip up the package. I tried zipping the package myself and got an error message from Moodle when I tried to use it.

Here is what I do to create a custom goodbye message for an Articulate Storyline package:

Publish the file
Go to folder
Go to the LMS folder
Right click on the Goodbye.html file
Open it in Notepad ++
Edit and save the file
Go back to Articulate
Zip the file using the link in the publishing window
Upload to Moodle

Got a better way to do this? Please let me know. And if you know how I could create a link in the Goodbye.html document back to the course, I’d greatly appreciate it. Using _blank, _parent, _top just loads the course page into the iFrame.