More Than a Smartphone, Less Than a Computer

A month or so ago I was looking for a solution to a problem.  It was a minor problem, but a problem none the less.  I was considering a mobile computing solution that would allow me to do some very basic things.  I wanted more than a smartphone, but less than a large, bulky, and expensive laptop.  I already have the laptop for when I need to be a power user.  The purpose of this device was to stay connected in my downtimes and a little entertainment.

Essentially I wanted an iPad, however part of my reason for not bringing my laptop into these situations, especially on a vacation, was that I didn’t want an expensive piece of equipment that I was putting at risk of being stolen while away.  Especially considering my laptop is not only a wonderful tool, but contributes to my livelihood.  Losing my laptop would have a major impact on me and I don’t want to risk it.

I considered an Android tablet.  There are two problems with Android tablets right now.  The expensive ones are closer to the price of an iPad.  Honestly if I’m going to drop $500 on an Android tablet, I may as well purchase an iPad. Again that defeats the purpose of this machine.  If someone steals this mobile solution, I want to say “Oh well, at least it only cost me $_____.”  On the other hand, the inexpensive Android tablets are pretty awful.  They either use inferior hardware, or an old install of Android that doesn’t offer the latest refinements.  Even those in the $300 - $400 price point make me cringe at their price. Once you are at the $400 price point, again you may as well get an iPad for a $100 more.

I ended up landing on an Acer Aspire One Netbook.  Now I know what you are thinking.  These things are cheap, low powered, slow, and can’t run power user applications.  That’s fine with me.  This thing comes with Windows 7 Starter Edition, and runs it surprisingly well.  I have installed a couple of basic applications on it including the suite of Windows Live software.  I’ve selected Google Chrome as my browser of choice, and again there are no problems with this.  The screen and keyboard are a little small, however considering how little space there is on airplanes for full size laptops, this should be fine.  I’m not going to write my great novel on this thing.  I am going to have no problem watching movies on the plane and in the hotel room at night, logging into hotel Wi-Fi hot spots, checking my email and Facebook, and all the while knowing that my primary workforce computer is safely at home.

Oh the best part of this purchase is this - $179 at my local big box electronics retailer.  I’m not so well off that I would shrug my shoulders if I lost this netbook, but it would be far less painful than my $1000 plus  laptop.

Mobile Phones Used for Learning

This is a really neat article on how kids are using mobile phones for learning.

http://tiny.cc/e1h21

Part two is also here:

http://tiny.cc/dmq3l

Teaching people to type with video games.

This is an excellent example of how you take a mundane task and turn it into a game.  Typing skills are crucial to anyone who uses a computer.  The people at phoboslab.org have a neat little game reminiscent of Asteroids, except that you must words on your keyboard to fire your lasers.  Sure it seems like a game when you play it, and it is! However, every time you play, you are really practicing your typing skills.  


http://www.phoboslab.org/ztype/

A Plan for How to Learn Anything in Fun, Discrete Steps

A long but very interesting article on making learning intriguing.

Selection level feedback on multiple choice questions

Selection level feedback on multiple choice questions

Really good information from Adobe for a more advanced form of feedback for Adobe Captivate.

Text To Speech for e-Learning

Text to speech technology has come along way from when I first heard a computer speak. The following video is a TED speech by Roger Ebert. Roger lost the ability to speak, and for that matter eat, when he lost his lower jaw to cancer a few years ago. For part of his speech he is using the Alex voice on his Macbook. Take a listen. It's not bad, but still far from perfect.

I've learned that one of the difficulties is the fact that a computer doesn't breath. In addition to naturally pauses indicated in sentences by commas, we also pause elsewhere in our speech to simply account for our need as humans to breathe. I have been experimenting with this in Adobe Captivate's voice narration capabilities. the North American voices included with the product are from a company called Neospeech. Their voices use a text to speech programming language known as VTML. In addition to the text you want to be spoken, you can include VTML tags which will indicate items like speed, pitch, pauses, and a few other items. As I experiment with this, I find my narrative is sounding less and less like a robot and more and more human. It's not perfect, but it is getting better.

Faith in our People

I designed an online learning course template for an organization recently.  We went back and forth on the design several times and it seemed they were never quite happy.  I decided to model the template after their public website, this way I could be sure that all their branding would be 100 percent accurate. 

The feedback I received was that they thought the navigation structure may be too complicated for their employees.  I thought it interesting that the organization had faith in the general public to navigate their website, however they had little faith in their employees.  I see this all too often; we talk about adult learning and training, yet we have as much faith in our adults as we would small children.

Employee Newsletters: Informal Learning

Are you the Superintendent, Director, or Manager of a training department within a large organization?  Does your organization have a regular employee newsletter?  Do you contribute to the newsletter or oversee it in some way?  If you don't, you should and here is why:

Far more employees read company newsletters than interoffice memos or official emails.  It seems that like other periodicals like newspapers and magazines, employees want to be entertained and they see the company newsletter as recreational reading.  If you make regular contributions to the newsletter you can make an impact toward more informal learning. 

A Great Example of Informal Learning

I’ve talked about informal learning in the past, however I have stumbled across an example that training departments for larger organizations can take advantage of.  The concept is simply making available a program that you very likely already qualify for.  The cost is zero, and the effort on your part is minimal.

The program I speak about is the Microsoft Home Use Program (HUP).  Typically the IT department doesn’t promote the benefits of being a volume licenser from Microsoft, however buried inside the program benefits is the option of extending this license to employees through the program by providing Microsoft Office for around $10 USD each.

So how is this informal learning you may ask?  Well, it may very well be your responsibility to perform software training in your organization.  By offering Microsoft HUP to every employee who has a home PC for $10, a large percentage of employees will take advantage of it, they will use it during off-hours, they will gradually learn the new features, and how to do certain things with the software which they may apply back on the job.  Your investment in a little promotion of the program can pay off in the form of a more knowledgeable and skilled employee.

Ask your IT department if you qualify for the program.  It really is a win-win-win scenario.  Your organization wins by not having to build or purchase elaborate Microsoft training, you win because you have provided a training method, and of course the employee wins by getting really cheap software and upgraded skills.
To learn more, the program website is here.

Adobe Captivate

I was first introduced to Adobe Captivate when version two was still new.  Our instructional design team was switching from our previous authoring tool to Captivate while I was away conducting some classroom training out west.  Because of this I missed the training that our manager arranged for us.  I got back from the training and started to play around with the software.  It wasn’t quite as intuitive as PowerPoint, but close.  After a few days I found myself creating e-learning at a surprisingly quick rate.  As a team we relied heavily on Captivate for a year or two.  At which point we switched to another authoring tool to coincide with a new LMS launch.

Fast forward three or four years to today.  I have just opened up version five of Captivate which came as part of the Adobe E-Learning Suite I purchased a few months back.  It’s funny that the software is somewhat like riding a bike.  It’s been years but it’s all coming back to me.  There is very little that this software cannot do.  I’m so please to have my own copy of the Adobe E-Learning Suite.  It really has everything I could ever be asked to do as an Instructional Designer.