instructional design

Let’s Not Return to the Old Normal

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This conversation seems to be popping up in every one of my networks. We can not expect to return to what was.  We must strive to transform our future.

If your institution expects life to return to normal post-pandemic, disappointment lies ahead.

Even with vaccines and a presidential administration strongly committed to traditional higher education, there are no guarantees that higher education as we knew it will bounce back — and that’s OK.

We must design for greater flexibility. Now that nontraditional students represent the new student majority, we need to offer an educational experience that better meets their needs. That will certainly mean making more courses available online and offering courses at times that will make it easier for students to combine their studies with work and caregiving responsibilities. It will require us to double down on the kinds of student services that pay off: intensive, targeted advising; degree mapping and career planning; bridge programs, supplemental instruction, tutoring and grants targeting retention and completion. It also means offering more on-campus jobs.

Rather than viewing the pandemic wholly negatively, we’d do better to consider it a hard-earned learning experience that has opened our eyes, challenged us and driven us to make long-overdue reforms.

As Steven Mintz is professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin states, “We’d be remiss if we failed to learn the pandemic’s lessons.”

 

36 UIs In 30 Locations

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When to know enough is just enough. Ericsson had too much information and needed a message to communicate how a multi-purpose, multi-technology network node enables operators to meet their three priorities in relation to data traffic explosion: differentiation, control and monetization.

The above video is work that makes you jealous, inspires and does both simultaneously.  The beauty of this video is that it is a great example of the changing nature of how instruction can communicate an idea [not just a product].  It shows how Ericsson moves data around, and why it matters.

The House of Radon did the creative work and really hit the nail on making sense out of a concept. The video’s message “appeals to the senses.” Data, nodes, operators, differentiation–all of these ideas in Ericsson’s brief are just so much insubstantial vapor. House of Radon’s video translates them into snappy factoids, which helps. But the idea of embedding them into physically appealing touchscreen interfaces–and then embedding those into a series of viscerally evocative first-person live-action scenelets, where just a hint of sound effects and out-of-focus background action instantly tells your five senses everything they need to know about what’s happening outside the edges of the frame–that’s what makes Ericsson’s brief make sense.

House of Radon’s relentless cutting from new interface/location to new interface/location, three dozen times, is an essential part of getting the message across. As more and more innovative companies find themselves “selling” invisible-but-essential ideas, this kind of advertising-as-sensemaking becomes more valuable than any glib “Got Milk?”-style product campaign ever could be. Does every spot need to cram in 30-odd interfaces and locations to make its point? Of course not. But the designers behind this House of Radon spot know that, sometimes, “too much” is just enough.

Customizing a Facebook Page

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I assisted a client to create a customized FaceBook image for her business page. Val Nelson is a career and business coach who makes it easy for her clients to find clarity and confidence so they can follow their hearts…and make a living.

Customizing your FaceBook page visually: attracts the readers’ eyes to your page,
it helps the reader relate to you on a personal level, and it should assist with boosting the Google search engine optimization for Val’s overall online presence.

Of course, having a beautiful image to work with really helps.  I was able to use the color element to work into the customized treatment of Val’s FaceBook page and further support her overall branding design.

What do you think of Val’s new FaceBook page? I would love to hear your comments.

 

iBook Author by Apple

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There are times in an instructional designer’s life when the game changes and Apple has just changed the game-again. This time it is with their iBook Author.  Those who are considering an elearning situation, should consider using this new tool. The ability to interact with the content built in iBooks is amazing for all types of learners. Integrating audio and video right into the iBook allows the learners to integrate with the content.

Anyone who needs a workbook, textbook, manual. job aid, even a magazine, or newsletter should consider this type of learning aid. I will be getting mine soon.

This amazing new [FREE] app iBook Author allows anyone to create beautiful Multi-Touch textbooks — and just about any other kind of book — for iPad. With galleries, video, interactive diagrams, 3D objects, and more, these books bring content to life in ways the printed page never could.

This application has the ability to drag and drop text, images, graphics, video, movies and more into the template.  Apple’s Widgets add Multi-Touch magic to books with interactive photo galleries that bring images to life, engrossing 3D objects you can’t help interacting with, animations that burst off the page, and more.

Another beautiful thing about iBooks Author, it lets you create books that people with disabilities can read and experience. The table of contents, glossary, widgets, main text, and more are built to automatically take advantage of VoiceOver technology. Add accessibility descriptions to any widget or media — including movies and quizzes — so even those with vision impairments can use them.

And you can publish it to the iBookstore or iTunes U or share it with anyone with an iPad.

Going Mobile With My Website

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I just finished getting my website into a mobile format, so it is can be easily read with smartphones and/or tablet devices. Now, information about my design work is easy to find while on the go.

I have created: easy tap buttons for calling or navigating, accordion menus that expand to reveal more in depth information, videos are available, and I have my free gift ready for folks to download.

If you need your website to be mobile, look me up [on your phone] and give me a call.  I can design and create a mobile website for you and your business.

The mobile phone market is growing and you should be growing your business along with that expanding market.  According to the 60 Second Marketer, there are 6.8 billion people on the planet, 4 billions of whom own a mobile phone.  Do you know how many people own toothbrushes?  3.5 billion.  That’s right, more people own a mobile phone than own toothbrushes.

People are using their mobile devices to: locate, learn, communicate, shop, and they respond. It is predicted that by 2013 the primary way people will access the Internet will be via their mobile browsers.

Pilates How-To Video Shoot

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Yes, I worked on New Years Day art directing a video shoot for a Pilates instructor. After 4 hours of shooting, we got the video we need to create How-to videos for a series of eCourses Bob [the instructor] will be emailing out to clients on his mailing list.

One never knows what an instructional designer will do when working with subject matter experts. In order to fully understand the Pilates movements, I had a yoga mat on the side and did the poses as Bob was describing them.  This way I could be sure he was including all the information necessary to be used in the videos.   Being ready to emulate a situation, ask the right questions and give feedback to the expert are a few of the techniques I use when creating instructional design materials.

There are so many moving parts when shooting a How-to video.  Besides the basics of getting the material communicated correctly, there is; the set, mics, lighting, backgrounds, wardrobe, and direction.

It was a fun way to ring in the new year.