The Learning eXplosion , by Matthew Murdoch and Treion Muller, is a great read that steps you through how to successfully move your classroom instructor-led training into the virtual classroom. The book specifically focuses on 9 Rules for Creating Effective Virtual Training:

1. The Rule of Continual Change – Learners and designers must always be prepared for change.

2. The Rule of Knowledge Transfer – When transitioning from instructor-led classroom to virtual classrooms, be prepared to think through a new approach to the training delivery, content, timing, etc.

3. The Rule of Learning Circuitry – Follow the 5 steps to create a successful learning circuit.

4. The Rule of Overcoming Bias – By eliminating people’s fears of change, you can overcome their bias.

5. The Rule of Virtual Accountability – The 3 parts of the virtual accountability model are: Verbal, Visual, and Kinesthetic.

6. The Rule of Personal Practice – To be an effective virtual trainer, you must practice your presentations!

7. The Rule of Thumbs-Up – Make it easy for learners to give you feedback that will improve your virtual classroom.

8. The Rule of Global Positioning – Know the barriers to reaching a global audience.

9. The Rule of Sustained Orbit – Once your virtual classroom is launched, you need to keep the momentum following to keep it running successfully.

The book is a must read if you are in the process of transitioning instructor-led classroom training to virtual classroom training.

Matt and Treion also have a great blog to follow.

Often, due to shortened project timelines, the Analysis phase of the ADDIE process is cut short or skipped all together. This phase might very well be the most important phase of the ADDIE process. It is during the Analysis phase that you uncover the information critical for the learner to be successful in their job.

In Ethan Edwards webinar The 5 Most Important Analysis Questions You’ll Ever Ask , he highlights these 5 questions:

1. What do you expect learners to be able to DO after completing the course that they can’t do now?
2. What are the consequences TO THE LEARNER if the learner fails to master the intended outcomes?
3. Can you show me an active demonstration, a detailed simulation, or provide an opportunity to directly observe the desired performance?
4. What specific performance mistakes do new learners regularly make?
5. What tools, resources, job aids, or help do successful performers (or even experts) use to do these tasks?

Click here to access a replay of the webinar and supporting documentation.

Knoodle recently announced a new release of their software that makes it more intuitive and easier to use. With the new release, “you get more done in less time”, and let’s face it…who doesn’t want to save time these days.

New updates include:

• Redesigned content creation workflow
• Reduction in the number of steps between uploading content and publishing presentations
• Newly developed tools making synchronizing slides with the timeline and selected media easier
• New drag and drop capabilities to change slide order
• New intuitive UI that makes managing content, editing, and synchronizing easier than ever
• New Preview function to preview work before publishing.

Check out their blog post, New Release: More Content, More Social, More Rapid, to learn more about these exciting new updates.

eLearning Brothers Teaming Up with Knoodle

eLearning Brothers is happy to announce we are teaming up with Knoodle to offer eLearning PowerPoint Templates and Cutout People Images. Using templates adds consistency to your eLearning courses and helps to speed up the design process.

Take a look at these templates that work great with Knoodle.

We thought it would be nice to start the New Year by sharing with you a sample PowerPoint Template…for FREE. That’s right, click the link below to go to our eLearning Templates website and download this free template.

Free PowerPoint Template

Are you tired of the same dull classroom training experiences? Why not start the New Year with a resolution to liven up your classroom training content?

The Brothers have been hard at work designing some new PowerPoint Classroom Games that are a perfect way to add some energy and excitement to your classroom training courses. We currently have two different games available: GameShow and Millionaire.

Game features include:

• Professional graphics and design
• Team play available (GameShow)
• Automated score tracking
• Built in timers on each question slide
• Customizable questions and answers
• Compatible with PC – PowerPoint 03, 07, and 10

Game packages include all source files and an additional PowerPoint file with 40+ different branding themes that you can use to customize the game.

Thought is was time to update “ELB Extreme” for the past year (2011).

Here are a few of the extreme events:

Couple’s Laser Tag
We had to do a “couple’s laser tag” tournament before Brother Shawn moved to Hawaii. Brother Shawn and his wife are true snipers.

eLB Pool Tournament
Brother Shawn is the 2011 Pool Shark. He won the eLB Pool Tournament with Brother Andrew finishing a close 2nd and Brother Justin in 3rd.

Ragnar Relay Race: Wasatch Back
Brother Andrew and his wife, Sharlynn, ran on a 12 person team last summer that covered over 190 miles. The Ragnar relay race was from Logan Utah to Park City Utah (over tons of very steep mountains) and lasted just over 30 hours. Each ran 3 different legs of the race and Andrew’s last leg was 4 miles up a 10% grade (from 7,000 to almost 10,000 feet altitude). Sharlynn ran over 20 miles total. Here’s more about the Ragnar Race.

Hawaii
Brother Shawn got tired of the cold and moved to Hawaii (Kauai) for a year. He now enjoys surfing, long-boarding, spear fishing, and most importantly…the warm weather. If you happen to be in Kauai this year make sure you borrow the eLearning Brother’s surfboard for the day. (Free for nice customers)

The Dirty Dash
Brother Andrew, his wife, and his oldest 2 daughters ran the Dirty Dash last summer. It is a race in Midway Utah at a local ski resort. You run through snow machines, climb walls, slide down slip-n-slides, jump in mud pits, and more. Team Scivally finished the race and didn’t loose any kids.

Moab Biking
Brother Andrew did the Porcupine Rim trail in Moab for the first time last summer. After his group of 4 had broken brakes, snapped spokes, 7 flats, and a shortage of water, they finally made it home. (no broken bones this time)

ASTD and Universal Studios
While at the ASTD International Conference in Orland the Brothers had a chance to play at Universal Studios. The conference reserved most of the park and there was basically no wait on Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, and other rides. Awesome!

Overall is was a fabulous year and we look forward to 2012!

I recently read a great blog post by Articulates Tom Kuhlmann, titled Here’s Why Slide Count is Irrelevant to Your E-Learning Course . In the post he mentions the following key points:

- Screen count does not matter to the elearner…what matters, is the interaction built into the course.

- Do not auto-advance the slides in your course. Some people are fast readers, some are not, and some want to review the slide information before progressing through the course. Give the control to the learner!

Finally, three tips for creating productive eLearning:

1. Break the content into bite-size chunks. Smaller bits of information are easier to digest.
2. Are you viewing or doing? Determine if you are just sharing information with the learner (viewing) or if it is tied to performance goals (doing).
3. Are you pushing or pulling? Don’t just push out information to the learner. Build interactions in your eLearning where the learner has to perform a function or make a decision. If they cannot successfully do the task, then provide a way for them to “pull” the information from the course.

In summation…slide count does not matter as long as you keep your learners engaged and they can effectively pull the information out of the course that will improve their performance.

It’s always a challenge to send a course out for review and determine the best way to capture and consolidate all of the comments. There are many online browser-based authoring tools that make the review process easy and seamless. However for desktop installed tools it can still be a challenge. Here are 2 tools that can help.

REVIEW™

Upload your course to your REVIEW™ account, then anyone on your team can login from any location and leave feedback on any Articulate, Captivate, Lectora, or ProForm course. Easily collect feedback from customers, SMEs, managers, QA testers…anyone who needs to review your course! Rapid Intake REVIEW™ will track feedback notes, threaded comments, and more in one centralized location, making it easy to ensure everything is taken care of before it goes live to your learners.

Comment Catcher®

This tool is designed for Articulate users to easily capture eLearning course feedback. This tool allows you to consolidate and rate all of your subject matter expert’s feedback in one location for easy review and incorporation into your course. Check out this website to learn more.

We have been hard working little Elves this Holiday Season, and just finished making some sweet updates to all of our Flash Games and Quizzes.

Check out these updates that give you more control:

• Various question types: multiple-choice, true/false, multiple answer.
• Add 4 – 20 questions.
• Change point values for correct answers.
• Set the countdown timer on timed activities.
• Fresh new graphics.

Of course we still offer these same great features:

• Randomized questions.
• Interchangeable themes/buttons/backgrounds.
• Customizable colors for everything.
• Free online tutorials.
• We give you all .FLA source files for AS2 and AS3.
• SCORM compliant.

All Flash Games and Quizzes are simple to use and easily edited. Just open the template in Flash and copy/paste your text into the movie clips for each question and answer. Remember: you get all source files, so you can tweak them to meet any need you may have.

Check out the new eLearning Games!

Check out the new eLearning Quizzes! 

Happy Holidays from the eLearning Brothers team!

Do you need a break from all the Holiday shopping, parties, decorating, treat making, caroling, snacking, and tree trimming? We have just the break you need. Click the link below to play Reindeer’s Revenge…just make sure the boss doesn’t catch you playing!

Our Scores and Favorite Characters:

1. Brother Shawn: 1420 (Rocket Man)
2. Brother Andrew: 1400 (Lean Mean Ginger Bread Machine)
3. Sister Rosie: 1270 (Snowman Sweetness)
4. Brother Justin: 1360 (Rockin’ Christmas Tree)

We dare you to try and beat us!

Play the game here

If you really had fun playing the game, click the link below to download the free source files!

Download the source file for free

Happy Holidays from the eLearning Brothers team!