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Effective sound in instructional design refers to the initial sound capture and then the editing that follows. Initial poor sound capture (full of ambient sounds, poor voice quality) cannot really be enhanced much with desktop software. Live events that are not properly mic-ed ends up as a lost event.
With many departments videotaping their own events, there are plenty of digital videos with all-right video but fuzzy audio. Unintended ambient sounds—people walking down a hallway, the closing of a ...
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Back in the day, there were some of my freshman classes that had some 700 – 800 or more students per auditorium. Our learning was facilitated by TAs, and there were notes that we could buy in case we missed a lecture date or two. That’s how I recall it. I never actually bought lecture notes as study aids although I probably could have earned some extra points with that. I remember seeing some, and they were full of typos ...
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It was a friendly invitation between two Kansas universities to chat about ITV via Polycom. We were meeting from two universities and one branch campus. The dry run had gone well. The automated dialing system didn’t quite work, but we all did finally get online live to discuss the issues at hand.
One of the universities in the state was seeing ITV (interactive television) as the way to do distance learning. While they ...
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This clipart shows a gymnast standing on a balance beam in a balanced but difficult pose.
This stock image shows a man wearing a business suit and tie presenting to a group while standing in front of a whiteboard with writing on it.
This clipart image shows a man and a woman holding up an award in the form of a large trophy cup.
This image shows a bright pink "bot" that looks like a head floating in the screen ...
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With work that may be a little boring, it helps to spice it up by thinking of ways to add value. That especially applies to transcripting. Of course, it is a slippery slope to integrate transcription into instructional design, and I most certainly don’t mean to integrate this. That said, I am assuming that most IDs will occasionally get dragged into some transcripting by the needs of a particular project every now and again.
Either that, or I’m ...
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There’s something charming about being able to watch a small college come online in creating an online program. What’s even more intriguing is watching from a distance and through the framework of an online course to train the faculty, staff and administrators—using the LMS they’ve selected for their program.
Having never set foot on the campus of this college and only driven by the small town where it’s based once on my way elsewhere, I ...
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The past several months, the issue of e-learning accessibility has escalated to be one of the central issues of concern on this campus. As such, that has meant that a fair amount of time has been spent on the laws and regulations for accessibility and then on the various technological strategies to ensure the accessibility of images, data tables, films, audio files, and other digital learning objects.
An interesting twist on this relates to The Layered Model of Computer Supported ...
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by Eruditio Loginquitas
22 March 2008
Unfunded mandates are as popular in higher education as they are pretty much anywhere: not.
However, recently, our campus faculty and administration passed a policy that requires that e-learning meet accessibility guidelines. That aligns with national and state laws, but as an unfunded mandate, that requires plenty of creative hard work.
All the intentions here are good and positive, but there may be a lag between the desire and the actual doing. This campus has signed on for a big ...
Continue reading A Tip Sheet and an E-Learning Module to Promote E-Learning Accessibility
Blog Entry
Rich media refers to Web artifacts and sites that provide audio, video and interactivity. This includes downloadable or streaming videos that may be played on different media players like Adobe's Flash Player, Apple's QuickTime, Real Networks' RealPlayer, and Microsoft's Windows Media Player.
Rich multimedia can add more full-sensory learning such as sound and dynamic motion video to an online or hybrid learning experience. The digital interactive media may offer a more active learner experience than passive viewing ...
Blog Entry
One of the benefits of having some slow days now and again is that one has some time to think about improving what is already extant. One of my favorite things is teaching a course called "Online Teaching, Design and Development" on the AxioTM Learning Management System.
This is a 5-week course (with a pre-week and a post-week for stragglers) that covers a range of topics:
Pre-week Learning and Review Week 1: Making the Change Week 2: Learning Curricular Issues ...
Continue reading Retrofitting a Course for Branding and Accessibility
Blog Entry
The editors of an on-campus newsletter have been running a series on accessibility in e-learning design.
They've touched on a variety of software. They've addressed various principles. They've looked at strategies for retrofitting a course for accessibility.
One of the articles I ran across noted that "enhanced communications interfaces" are generally used to enhance accessibility.
Then, I ran across an essential concept that is not often addressed in the accessibility context ...
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K-State has released a policy that addresses accessible eLearning.
http://www.k-state.edu/academicservices/fhbook/fhsecf.htm (F125)
This will mean positive changes in instructional design and delivery. More thoughts will be forthcoming.
Blog Entry
Accessibility is one of those critical issues that affect pretty much all ID work. Various authoring software programs have made our jobs a lot easier in terms of templating with the right color contrasts, the ability to add alt texts, the various ways digital files may be output, and so on. My own commitment to accessibility has been put to the test with a 9-module course build that involves plenty of video: lectures, labs ...
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by IDOS Newswire
17 May 2007
Greetings all,
I'd like to make you aware of a project I'm starting that I'd love your participation in. Please feel free to forward/post this invitation in other forums that you feel are applicable after reading the rest of this message.
Summary: I would like to invite you to participate in a small research project I'm embarking on: Accessibility in eLearning: an In/Outsider's Perspective. In brief, I will be sitting in on two ...
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Much in the Accessibility literature deals with technology mitigations and assistive devices. Less has been done on the curricular ways to mitigate for learning disabilities. So far any who are so inclined, this may be an intriguing direction for further research. What is a learning disability? A learning disability entails any combination of the following:
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There are a number of federal laws that deal with the issue of accessibility and websites. When I used to teach "Writing for New Media" at a college in the Pacific Northwest, my students would come in well-armed with firsthand observations about the challenges of disabilities and any number of strategies on how to design sites (often from scratch) that were accessible and welcoming to those with various combinations of disabilities. Various software makers have built accessible templates. Technologists have ...