eLearning on a Shoestring (eLearning Guild Online Forum)

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
  • email
  • 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

  1. 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

  2. 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.

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