E-learning on a Shoestring: Help for the Chronically Underfunded – Jane Bozarth
bozarthzone.com
I was able to sit in on the eLearning Guild’s Online Forums today and here is a collection of notes from this presentation.
For every product I like there are hundreds more out there and the market is getting bigger and bigger all the time.
Converting an existing 2 hour course $25K
New course $65K
LMS cost $200-$1m
Build or buy:
- does it really have to be company specific (ie: fire safety, whmis, etc?)
- everyone thinks there own this is special and unique
- do you have more than 500 users – is it worth the time to create/buy the courses if no one is going to use them
Remember that you should balance the ideas of:
- can you get it out earlier or spend hours on making it elegant
- can you get it good enough or does it have to be perfect
- everything does not have to be visual & auditory & etc, etc
- 0$, student misses the performance objective, but then they want situational
- examples….turns into a $50000 with a 6 month delay – SCOPE CREEP
- don’t waste money past what objective you need to meet
* Find the critical 20% of information: regarding making sure SME’s only have the info they need included.
Word – webpage template wizard —find for a 3 page instruction piece
(but writes bad and cluttered code – not great for HTML & Webpage tools)
MS Paint – graphics, designing, editing, creating – FREE (it can help out with what you need on a basic level)
Buy what you need! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk2sPl_Z7Z (The Mona Lesa created with MS Paint)…whewww….what a lot of work.
“Good elearning comes from design rather than the software”
PowerPoint
- pictures with audio can work as well as video with audio
- hyperlink areas of the screen
- large file size can be avoided by converting the ppt to a flash file
- if you are using video and you are showing only someones mouth moving you are wasting your money on the video
75% of learners have….. try to go with what they have
- lots of text
- lots of video
- lots of audio
(or just a little of each to match your learners’ technology)
Nothing is more compelling than putting your learner into real situations of learning.
ie: family struggles, mother trying to feed a family, trying to get your first job, etc
-if you can get your learner to go and try other scenarios (all the scenarios) you’ve created something very compelling.
Games (ie: CourseBuilder)
- small java program
- scaffolding and feedback (once twice)
**don’t just replicate tests you could do with pencil and paper – then you might as well use a survey tool
(tool – Hot Potatoes, mix match questions, fill in the blanks, short answer, etc)
Add on, don’t renovate
Collaborative Learning Systems http://www.clsllc.com/
each game – $1.80 (only mine, once you download to your own system)
Quia
$99 for education (jeopardy, surveys, homepages, feedback, quizzes, matching, etc)
– launched to 10,000 with no issues (unlimited users)
Web Quests
“student….you’re going to research info and create something for our public to learn”
-send them to the pages you want to see
Collaboration
- role plays (discussion boards, emails)
- case studies
- group tasks (discussion boards, emails) (everyone posts their ideas, compile up a consensus answer – everyone participates)
- 23 Things – do all the 23 things and you win a prize (to do list)
- blogs – have your own blogs, get students to discuss a topic live, then post their own answers to the topic on their own blog
- Job aids – with call outs on important areas (can eliminate screens of training
Re-use videos, cliparts, templates
Talking to Management
- research
- what can you do cheaply
- PowerPoint $0
- webpage $0
(exsiting 2 hour course to transfer to an online courses- 1 month to 6 weeks of time) – but depends on the topic of the course, expertise of designer, SMEs, etc
Tracking and LMS (what do you want it to do)
- how many people are going to access the programs
- did so and so access the program
- did so and so complete the program
- did they start and complete, or not complete
registrations
Free options for LMS features (like features)
- counters
- paper/pencil
- proctors
- polls and surveys
- quia and web communities (at $99 you get lots of reports and feedback as well)
Jane’s Books
Better Than Bullet Points
e-Learning Solutions Shoestring
From Analysis to Evaluation
Comments 0
Hi there – Great blog!
I am a technology teacher in Ontario, and recently I started ClassRunner.com in order to help teachers bring online learning environments into their classes in an easy and affordable way.
Many teachers I know have wanted to extend their class online, but have balked at the complexity. My goal is to provide a simple, friendly yet powerful option, giving teachers just what they need, without any headaches.
Using Moodle, I setup, host and manage very affordable course sites for teachers, which can provide a class message-board functions, blogs, assignment posting and collecting, online markbooks, posted resources, glossaries, calendars, etc…
I hope you think your readers might find it appealing. With your permission, I will be adding a link to your site on our ‘links’ page, and if you think it appropriate, perhaps you could reciprocate?
Wishing you continued success in your endeavors,
David Hoare
dh@classrunner.com
I’m enjoying your blog here in England.
A recognise that your original post is a couple of years old now, but thought I’d mention our intuitive build-your-own eLearning website that helps to keep costs down. It’s called eLearning247 and is proving to be a success here in the UK. It doesn’t do everything, but what it does do it does well.
Kind regards,
Neil.