WTF-HTML5

People have been throwing around HTML5 a lot and I’m not sure everyone fully understands where HTML5 is at.  While the need for HTML5 is firmly established, HTML4 is still the de facto standard for the web.  HTML4 is about a decade old at this point but I decided to check where we were at with HTML5 and how ready are all the browsers for HTML5. 

Turns out that HTML5 hasn’t been signed off so to speak.  Many standards, such as the ability to add video tags without the need for plugins like QuickTime or Flash, or audio tags based around native mp3 playback have been proposed, yet there is no one internet browser that has implemented all the proposed standards yet.

I found this great video that lays it out well.  Take a look.

What is HTML5

First Impressions

I once attended a training session where the instructor was late in arriving to the session, was in a bad mood due to whatever it was that made him late in the first place and was a little dishevelled, also likely due to whatever made him late.  My impression of him and of the training was negative;  I didn’t like this guy and my thoughts of the training was that I wasn’t going to get anything out of this experience.

It turns out I was wrong.  By the end of the first day it was clear this guy knew his stuff and the material was excellent.  I learned a great deal and it changed the way I felt about the subject matter. 

The expectation we put on instructors and facilitators is extremely high.  We expect that they have all the answers, show up an hour early and stay and hour late to answer questions, are perfect in appearance and dress, and are immaculately groomed even when the learners in a session are sometimes more than casual.  We hold them to a higher standard. 

I used to ship my documentation, equipment, and student guides to a location in advance of my arrival.  This was one little thing that you could avoid having to chase after.  That said, what is your contingency if your materials do not arrive.  What do you do?

All I can say is plan for the normal and the abnormal.  Ask yourself these types of questions as you are preparing.  “What happens if my materials don’t arrive in advance of the training?”

Having contingencies can make you look professional and demonstrate to your customer that you can roll with the punches.

PhotoShop CS6 in Beta at Adobe Labs

I've been testing out Windows 8 for quite a few months now and I've felt less than enthusiastic about this new platform.

What I am excited about is the the new PhotoShop which has been out for a few weeks.  I'm going to download it today from Adobe Labs and check out some of the cool new features.  Here is the link for those that might be interested:

http://labsdownload.adobe.com/pub/labs/photoshopcs6/photoshopcs6_p1_win_032112.zip

Undocumented Patch

Today my Adobe Application Manager ran shortly after I started up my machine and found and applied an update to Captivate.  I checked my version number afterwards and discovered that I am now at version 5.0.3.631.  I checked Adobe's web site and looked for this update and couldn't find any reference of it anywhere.  Anyone else encounter this update?  I'd love to know what the fix or improvement was.

I Must Be Patient

So I have purchased the upgrade to Adobe eLearning Suite 2.5 and while I’m excited to try some of the newer features, I must refrain.  You see I’m presently working on a project for a client who is only at version 2.0.  I worry that if I upgrade my laptop prematurely, I will jeopardize the courses that I produce for them.  In the end, they will own all the materials I develop.  I would hate to give them source files that they couldn’t open, or worse, wasn’t compatible with their LMS (Learning Management System).

There is a tip here, in that make sure you remain compatible with your client.  It would look unprofessional if your stuff wouldn’t work with their stuff.  That said, for those that are looking to upgrade their Adobe software, they have some really good prices.  I saved $200 over the regular upgrade price.

This week I'm getting some online training ready for my current client and discovered that Adobe Captivate and the Paul voice from Neospeech had problems with the following sentence:

"Numbers are also present on signs throughout the building."

At first I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong with the way this was being said.  I listened a few times and realized that the word present sounded like the noun present that you would give on a birthday or at Christmas, rather than adjective that I am present in this situation or the sign is physically present in the building.  Technically the words are both pronounced the same, but there is a stress difference between the two.  Clearly I meant to say that the signs are physically located throughout the building.  I could rewrite the sentence but instead I did a little research and discovered a better solution. 

I wondered if there was a way to let the text to speech engine correct this.  I've discussed before the need to inject pauses using either additional commas.  You can also add pauses with more control using commands such as or .  The 500 in the first example means 500 milliseconds, while Break level 2 is similar to the pause that a comma produces. 

Turns out there is a solution for changing the pronunciation or stress on certain words that change depending on the parts of speech used.  Here is the syntax:

text

In my specific example, I entered:

present

This ends up changing the pronunciation ever so slightly from a present as in a gift, to the state of being present time or physically here right now.

Two Most Important Questions To Ask Your Clients

When I'm at the analysis stage of developing training, there are two most important questions I ask of my clients.  These two questions are often confused with one another, but there is a difference between them.  The first questions is as follows:

"What will the learners be able to do or know upon completion of this course?"

I think you can see that this leads to my ability to build my objective.  The rest of the course design and development will stem from this very simple question.  For example, if my client responds to this question with "learners will be able to change a flat tire" than that is my objective for the course, at least for the most part.  I will likely break it down into sub tasks as needed and add the conditions, such as "given a car with a flat tire, a spare tire, a jack and a tire iron, you will be able to...."

The other question is:

"What do you hope to accomplish with this training?"

Now they sound like similar questions but they're not.  The first question was to answer was the learner was going to gain from the course.  The second question is what the client, the stakeholder, or business for that matter, will gain from this course.  For example, I might be designing a customer service course.  The learner's objectives might include items such as learning the proper steps to greeting the customer, and identifying their needs, and so one.  The business will get out of this course, more sales, happier customers and less complaints.

I think we often over design a course because we have failed to ask these types of questions.  If you identify was the client wants for themselves, their business, and the objectives for their learners, you should never have any questions popping up in the eleventh hour about course content.

Seven Top Authoring Tools

Check out this list of the seven top authoring tools for e-learning development.  Nice to know I'm using number one.

Seven Top Authoring Tools for e-Learning

Captivate2HTML5

I saw this blog entry over at the Adobe Captivate blog and thought I would share:
Link
I haven't read it yet, but this could be really good news for Captivate users.  We are starting to here HTML5 this, and HTML5 that, and less about technologies like Flash.  If the future has less Flash based web pages, then it goes almost without saying that the future will have less Flash based eLearning as well.  Having another publishing option can't be a bad thing.  I'm very interested to see how this all plays out.

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.