Audio – I never knew it could be so hard.

LINGOs is completing a series of conversations with key stakeholders from our member agencies.  These discussions, formally entitled account reviews, are an opportunity for member agencies  to reflect on their accomplishments in CY2008 and to outline their goals for cy2009.  One of the observations coming out of these discussions is the large number of LINGOs agencies that are adopting rapid e-learning tools to develop  custom e-learning content.  Member agencies are developing courses on project management, fraud detection, GIS systems and development, orientation/induction, IT programs, grants management, staff safety, and much more. 

As agencies increasing move in the direction of custom e-learning development, one of the learning curve challenges they face is how to ensure that their sound files are of consistently high quality.  For anyone who has managed sound recordings previously, you know that sound is one of the most difficult elements when developing courses.  All other elements of the course can approach perfection (design is well thought through, quiz questions reinforce the learning, navigation and style sheets are intuitive, images are appopriate, etc.)  however, sound quality can suffer from any number of weaknesses.  While I do not aspire for technical perfection in the work I do, there are any number of problems I have encountered when recording sound that have bothered me to the point of distraction:

• varying volume levels between slides;
• ambient noise;
• high-frequency humming;
• and… that general feeling that sound quality is “inconsistent” between slides.  

That is why I was pleased to see that the learning designers at www.commoncraft.com had blogged on the topic of managing sound quality and I wanted to be sure to pass on some of the tips they provide in their post:

Consistency is the holy grail and until just recently, we had no way of creating a consistent sound. Now, thanks to some creative uses of bedding, we have our very own sound studio…   …  It’s tiny and stuffy, but it works quite well for us. It reminds me of building forts in the living room when I was a kid.   Remember how the forts would get all stuffy? It’s same feeling…  …

 

As I read this blog post (see it in its entirety here), there were several thoughts that come to mind:

1. Hurray, I am not alone!  It was good to see that  my challenges when recording audio are common among even the best learning developers (FYI – I think CommonCraft is clearly among the best of learning designers and developers.  There approach (visualization) is unusual, but highly engaging and effective.  If you don’t know their work, be sure to visit their site.  It is inspirational.)
2. It is good to know that there are some relatively simple, inexpensive, low-tech options to approximate studio-quality sound recording without paying for a studio.
3. BUT – truthfully, it I set up a tent made from bedding in my cubicle at my organization, management would probably ask me to take it down within minutes AND would then insist that I take a mental health day.   That is why I also appreciated the suggestion in the comments section to the CommonCraft blog post that provided another alternative that does not require building a childhood fort structure from blankets and sheets:  Alternatively, you can almost get the same quality by putting egg crate foam in the corner of a room, face into it, make adjustments to your gain/input, and get some decent results. You might be able to avoid the living room fort claustrophobia. 

What about you?  Do you have any experiences to share concerning developing audio files for iNGOs e-learning?  Hardware?  Software?  Voice talent?  Studio configurations?  Let us know via the comments section below.

Why We Love Jing (Part 2)

Those of you who know LINGOs will not be surprised when you hear us exclaim that “We Love Jing” 

That said, the release of Jing Pro earlier this week has us rekindling our love affair with the tool. Yes, the JING screen capture software continues to be our choice for making quick screen recording videos that help us train users of new applications, document the user experience when troubleshooting, and generally providing narrated communications using PowerPoint or other screen applications.

So, what does JING Pro offer that is new and different?   For a fee of $14.95 a year, JING Pro lets you:

• Record full-motion video from your screen
• Share faster with smaller video files
• Upload straight to YouTube (or upload manually elsewhere)
• Strip Jing logos & links from your videos

The ability to record full-motion video is especially intriguing.  I have often envisioned a learning series that uses Skype video to conduct interviews with leaders in the field of international development, relief and conservation around the world.  These videos could be recorded and posted to the web, providing easy access to viewers regardless of their location.  With JING Pro, it now becomes a one-click operation to record that Skype video chat AND (if you choose.)

Why We Love Jing

At LINGOs, we love JING!  When we are working on a virtual team and need to work through a complicated troubleshooting issue… … make a JING!  Need to train a group of LMS Administrators on how to complete a task on the Learning Management System… … make a JING!  About to launch a major new initiative and need to communicate with hundreds of people… … make a JING!

Why do we love JING?  First, it’s free!  Second, it is intuitive and easy to use.  Third, you can forget about struggling with the complicated effort involved with managing source files, publishing in multiple formats, and uploading to FTP sites.  Finally, did I mention it is free?

As the JING Project turns one year old, the development team has made the product even more easy to love.  JING subscribers now receive  a complimentary server account with 2 GB of storage and 2 GB of transfer bandwidth per month. 10 times the size available previously.  Furthermore, you can increase your server space at a reasonable additional price.

If you want to learn more, visit some of the links above, or go to www.jingproject.com

Top 100 Learning Tools for 2008

The Centre for Learning & Performance recently published its yearly list of the Top 100 Tools for Learning.  The list is a fun and informative read that I enjoyed on a number of levels.   As I reflect on the rankings of the list I realize there are three principle observations that come to mind:

First, I was happy to see that a number of the  tools on the list are being employed extensively by LINGOs and its member agencies -  including Articulate Rapid e-Learning Suite (#22), Jing (#28), Elluminate (#53), and more.  It is exciting to see that we are actively adopting and deploying many of the leading learning tools and that our approaches and strategies are aligned with others in the field.

Second, there were some surprising results on the list.  One in particular, but definitely not the only, was  the number one ranking for del.icio.us - a bookmarking tool I use daily, but would not have included on the my top twenty list.  The prominence of del.icio.us and other surprising entries like  like YouTube (#18), iTunes (#27), Google Maps (#42), etc.) have prompted be to reassess the way I considered applications as learning tools.

Finally, there is a treasure trove of additional software applications that I previously was unaware of and I now realize can be extremely useful.  For example, I have already downloaded the Cute PDF Writer (#70) and Audacity ( #11) to help me convert PDF files and record sound files.  Like many of the applications on the list, the two listed above are free and are ideally suited to address some of the most common challenges I have as a learning professional.  Other tools on the list are exciting new approaches to learning, collaboration and community building that I look forward to further expoloring over the coming year.  More specifically, some of the most intriguing products include Ning, GIMP and VoiceThread.

What do you think about the Top 100 Learning Tools List?  Share your experience/thoughts regarding the list by  contributing to the comments section of this blog post.

Tips for Developing Courses in a Virtual Team Environment

One of the challenges when working with Rapid e-Learning Development Tools is collaborating with team members who are not physically co-located with you.  While virtual collaboration is difficult in any situation, it can be especially difficult when developing an e-learning course.  For example, it is not unusual for source filesto exceed 20MB in size - far exceeding the maximum allowable file size of most e-mail servers and are too large to share via intranets.  This posts identifies two ways virtual teams can address this challenge.

  

1.        YOU SEND IT  allows users to share files up to 100MB between members of a virtual team.  This free service places files (which must be zipped before loading) on their FTP server for two weeks, during which time you can send links to team members that will allow them to access the files via a download (rather than as e-mail attachments.)  When I collaborate with a co-developer on the look and feel of a course, or troubleshoot with an expert on the SCORM code in a course, the YouSendIt service allows me to share the files quickly and easily.

2.       On-line course development software programs like OutStart Evolution and Udutu allow course developers to share files, work on the same application, and publish courses regardless of where they are located in the world.  The Nature Conservancy has adopted this approach to course development over the past two years – largely reflecting the fact that their course developers are seldom located in the same office.  LINGOs is just starting to experiment with this approach and I will blog further on this topic over  the coming month.  If this is an area of particularly interest to your learning team, consider attending the July 31 webinar by Rose Jorgensen which will explore the features and functionality of OutStart Evolution.  More information on that webinar is available through this link.