E-Learning for Beginners

Each year we run a free one day event that is aimed tutors and trainers working in the Further Education and Skills Sector, who are completely new to e-learning and ILT. The aim of this event is to offer them a taste of e-learning and a chance to see what technology can do to support education. It's also a chance to be inspired and see what technologies or topics might be emerging that could help you with your teaching practice.

This year the full day event will include sessions on:

• Sharing and finding electronic resources


• Using the IFL REFLECT e-portfolio to record CPD Practice


• Assistive Technology Workshop


• Tech On A Budget


• Emerging Technologies (or 7 Things You Should Know About)


• Using a Wiki to Support your Teaching


• The Wonderful World of Word Clouds


• Teaching and Learning safely online

The event has proved very popular in previous years and has therefore been limited to three people per learning provider with places being allocated on a first come, first served basis.

This event is free to attend, with lunch and refreshments provided. To book visit the page on our website.

We look forward to seeing some of you there!

More e-Learning Kit Available to Try Before You Buy

I’ve mentioned our Try Before you Buy scheme on wobble previously. Basically, this initiative allows you as a learning provider, to loan a number of e-learning devices for a fixed period. This is so that you are able to evaluate their potential usefulness within your own organisation.

Each collection of kit contains a wealth of items which aim to help you to bring the benefits of e-learning to all your learners whilst supporting accessibility at the same time. A full list of the devices available for loan can be found in this post, and feedback from providers who have taken part can be found here.

I have a couple of updates to this scheme to share:

1. The first is that the list of kit available has now been updated to include some very exciting new tools! The new additions include an Apple iPad, a Live Scribe pen (alternative to the ZPen) and a Sony Dual Video camera (this is to replace the Flip Video cameras which are no longer manufactured).

2. The second update is that Alison Wootton, our Adviser for Accessibility and Inclusion, has recently produced a report which shares some of the findings from people who have already trialled these bags of kit. Many providers reported that this initiative has really helped them in evaluating a range of technology that is available to support e-learning and accessibility in particular. You can access this report here.

This initiative is still open to all our supported learning providers in this region. All that is required to loan a complete set of kit for a period of six weeks is:

· You must commit to an hour’s initial training, (to introduce you to the tools and outline the project aims), and
· You must complete a short end of project review in which we would discuss your use of the technology.

There are no costs associated with taking part in this initiative. To apply to borrow this equipment, you need to register your interest with me and I’ll add your name to the list. My contact details are also here.

I suspect the chance to try out a brand new iPad for six weeks will be an attractive prospect in its own right (here’s why). As before, registrations will be treated on a first come first served basis so act quickly if you want to take part anytime soon!

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Related Wobble links:

Learning Technology Loan InitiativeTry Before you Buy – Feedback so Far
20 Free Apps for the IPad
Accessibility Overview
Sanyo Xacti Digital Video Camcorder


To read more of Wobble click here.

Future of the National Learning Network Resources

The National Learning Network materials are interactive learning packages that can be used by LSC funded work based learning providers for free. I’ve mentioned them previously here. The service has recently undergone some changes and with effect from last week (22nd July) is now owned and managed by LSIS.

An LSIS survey in December last year confirmed that:

* practitioners continue to value the materials themselves and the service;
* a large body of learning provider VLEs contains embedded links to the site that would have to be reworked if the site closed

This has led to a number of questions arising as to their continued use, so if you are a current user of these resources or indeed would like to become one, please see the FAQs below for what to expect of the service from this point on.

1. Will the National Learning Network (NLN) materials service continue to operate for the foreseeable future?

YES. LSIS have worked with Xtensis, who developed the service, to ensure its continued operation for the next two years. Xtensis has kindly granted a free license to use the software that delivers the site, so it will look and perform the same as it does now.2. How will it work?

Exactly the same as it does now:

* the NLN materials will continue to be available at www.nln.ac.uk
* all existing links to links to the site - Learner URLs, VLE links and Noodle links - will continue to work as now .
* individual Learning Objects (LOs) and Permanent Collections will still be available for download.

3. What will change?

There will no longer be:

* registration and/login .
* the facility to create collections

Users who want to create new collections or store any pre-existing collections associated with their login can copy them across to a new service provided by Xtensis, called XtLearn.4.

4. What happens now?

The site will be run by LSIS from the summer and work has already started on the new version of the site.

5. What next?

Some of the materials no longer work, either technically because they were based on redundant technology, or in terms of their content (old-fashioned, outdated practice etc). The LSIS survey identified a wish by users to see them brought up to scratch. It also identified members of the community who would be willing to join or lead such developments. LSIS will work with partners to facilitate these developments as far as is practicable.

6. For any other queries about the NLN service

See the User Guide and FAQ page on the NLN site, where many issues and procedures are comprehensively covered. Both are available via the Help Viewer, and the Support box on the home page.

For additional support and help with the NLN website and/or the Excellence Gateway service visit: http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/contactus


To read more of Wobble click here.

20 Free Apps for the IPad

With the number of tablet users on the increase (especially since Santa’s visit!) I’m increasingly asked about any iPad apps that I can recommend. I currently have only free apps on my own iPad but a number of our team have bought ones which they find quite useful. To keep this post short, below I’ve shared details of some of the free ones we use and in a future post will post a list of some of the paid ones.

(Debbi, I hope this is enough to get you started!)


Free apps for the IPad:

1. Ideas Sketch - An easy and simple to use mind mapping tool. You can create numerous ideas and return to edit them as and when you wish. The app allows you make notes and select different colour schemes for different strands of thought / ideas. Ideas can be imported into other apps, e.g. pages, saved to photos or emailed to other people.

2. Dragon Search - A way to search online content on your iPhone using your voice. Simply speak your search queries and get simultaneous results from a variety of top websites and content sources

3. Dragon Dictation - Dragon Dictation is a voice recognition application that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. It’s supposed to be up to five times faster than typing on the keyboard. Using this you can also dictate status updates directly to your Social Networking applications (Facebook and Twitter) or send notes and reminders to yourself….all using your voice.

4. iBrainstorm - This is collaborative / productivity app designed to capture thoughts and ideas using virtual post-it notes (on a virtual corkboard) to which comments can be added using the keyboard.

5. IQ Gym - IQ Gym is a mathematical educational game. The user must solve mathematical questions within a time-limit to get to the next level.

6. Dropbox – An easy and free way to sync and share your files online and across computers.

7. Lockbox - LockBox lets you store and protect sensitive info such as credit card numbers, bank accounts, passwords, pin numbers, private notes, and any other secret information on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

8. SugarSync - This application requires you to download software to your computer and set up a free account with SugarSync. Once you have done this you transfer the files you want to access into your “Magic Briefcase”. Once this has been done you can use your 3G iPhone or wireless enabled iPad to access these files.

9. BBC News - Mobile version of the BBC News website.

10. Globe - Globe for iPad is a Geography app which shows the countries of the world on a 3D globe - you can manipulate the globe with the normal iPad gestures — drag your finger or use a rotate gesture to rotate the globe; pinch to zoom in and out.

11. Wikipanion - Although Wikipedia can be accessed via safari, what gives this app a bit of an edge is its ability to allow you to bookmark topics and review your browsing history within the app. Wikipanion also has one or two nifty search options, e.g. Wiktionary ( allows you look up terms without leaving the page. You have to option to view in safari and there is a Tweet function for the Tweeters.

12. Sounds right - British Council's first pronunciation chart for learners and teachers worldwide.

13. Dictionary.com - Dictionary & Thesaurus - The free Dictionary.com app delivers trusted reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, including nearly 1,000,000 words and definitions and 90,000 synonyms and antonyms. No Internet connection is needed for word look-ups. The app also features audio pronunciation, voice-to-text search and Dictionary.com’s popular Word of the Day and Hot Word blog.

14. NASA (HD) - Excellent graphics, a wealth of information about the planets as well links current space exploration and discovery. There really is a great deal lot information available here. Links are provided to NASA centres and it is possible to learn about the mission and function of all current NASA satellites.

15. i-reflect - The app is very simple to use, (although keep in mind it does not have the same capacity as the main Institute for Learning site) IFL members can create a thought or activity asset which can be added to your reflect portfolio.

16. FeedlerRSS - RSS feed reader, which syncs very nicely with Google Reader.

17. The Telegraph (News) - free for a limited period in partnership with Audi. The app brings you the editors' selections from the daily newspaper – from reporting to sports analysis and columnists.

18. Pocket Pond - Just for fun. This app shows off the I Pad's multimedia capabilities and particularly its high quality sound.

19. Angry Birds – (As recommended by our ACL Adviser!) - The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the green pigs who stole the Birds’ eggs. Use the unique destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste to the pigs’ fortified castles.

20. Solitaire – (another one from our ACL Adviser) The Solitaire game now on the iPad. With the exquisite touch screen on the iPad, you can now literally touch your cards and move them as you play the game.

PS...
21. A couple of my colleagues also recommend Flipboard - a fast way to flip through the news, photos and updates your friends are sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader and Flickr. See your social media in a magazine layout that is easy to scan and fun to read.

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Related Wobble links:

Alternatives to the iPad
The new iPad
Creating an Interactive Classroom


To read more of Wobble click here.

Super Book of Web Tools for Educators

Stumbled across this useful book today, "The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators", a comprehensive guide for using technology in the classroom. It’s American so uses American terms when referring to the sectors it covers, but it has loads of useful inks to tools which can be used by various types of learning providers.

Its introduction notes “There are teachers around the world who want to use technology in their classrooms, but they’re just not sure where to start. That’s why eleven prominent bloggers, teachers and administrators got together to create this free eBook.”

The book highlights loads of free web based resources that can be used for teaching and learning. You’ll find some fairly popular tools covered (wikispaces, skype, googledocs, facebook) as well as some more obscure tools that cover everything from uploading to shared webspaces (dropit to me) creating animated books (flipbook), editing web pages for printing (print what u like) and more. The list of tools referenced is certainly a long one.


To get the most from the book, I’d suggest you pay little attention to the headings they fall under as many of these tools can be used in a number of settings. All in all, a very good publication - I’ll certainly be saving my own copy and checking out a number of these resources myself.


To read more of Wobble click here.

Free Hairdressing Resources

Last week our Information Officer posted an article on our website about a new batch of hairdressing resources that are now freely available online. These are high quality videos that demonstrate popular hairdressing techniques, such as cutting, straightening, and also cover areas such as client consultation and health and safety. They have been developed by Worcester College and have now been shared on the web for others to use.

This is great if you deliver hairdressing training and have a virtual learning environment such a Moodle as they can be very easily linked to from within that. They can also simply be accessed and viewed directly from the webpage, there is no log in or registration required.

These videos were developed with staff from salons in the West Midlands region and it’s great to see such high quality resources for e-learning emerging locally. Having just watched one or two, I’ve learnt a few handy tips from the professionals myself!

For other web based resources (that also include hairdressing) see related wobble posts below.

__________________

Related links:

Intute - web resources for education
NLN learning resources, whats on the horizon?

To read more of Wobble click here.


Image "_MG_7162" from Flickr (Kindly shared by by NYCArthur)

Online Tutorial for Jobseeking (and fifty pound prize draw)

Many work based learning centres include some job searching activity as part of their provision so I thought I’d signpost this online resource which I’ve been getting quite a bit of feedback on recently.

Internet for Jobseeking is a free online tutorial designed to help learners who are job-searching. Freely accessible on the web, it has a simple "teach yourself” format that is supported by interactive quizzes and exercises. It can be used by learners to work through on their own or can be incorporated into session based activity that is led by a trainer. As a web based resource this can also be incorporated or linked into your virtual learning environment or any other online web space.

For an example of how this resource could be used see this page which has a session plan based around a Job Searching Session.

(Another useful tutorial is "Internet for Images" which focusses on finding copyright free images to use in training resources).

Both tutorials are part of the Intute Virtual Training Suite, a site that provides free Internet tutorials for education/training. Ive mentioned this previoulsy here.

The service has been in operation for some time now and the Intute team is keen to get feedback on how the reources is used. Co-incidentally, during this month (March 2009) there will be a weekly draw with a prize of £50 worth of Amazon vouchers for those completing a short survey on what they think of the site.

So if you haven’t yet seen the tutorials, now might be a good time to take a quick look, submit your feedback in the survey and stand to win a £50 voucher in the process!

Happy browsing and good luck!

_______________

Related wobble links:

Intute Web Resources for Education

Getting to Grips with Interactive Whiteboards

The Interactive whiteboard is a wonderful tool to use with learners — great for group activities and for capturing the attention of learners. But while many learning providers own them, not all staff have been able to successfully integrate them into their teaching.

To address this, the RSC West Midlands are now offering another of our popular Interactive Whiteboard training sessions, free to staff from West Midlands based work based learning and adult and community providers.

In this repeat of a previous session, Alison Nock will again show what can be achieved using interactive whiteboards and show how they can be used effectively to enhance teaching and learning.

This beginners two hour workshop will take place in Wolverhampton on Friday 3rd October from 1.30pm - 3.30pm. There are a limited number of spaces available and they do tend to go fast - the last event was full within 48 hours of being advertised! Bookings are limited to two people per organisation.

For more information email our events coordinator or book online.

FREE Resources for Quality Improvement

Over the last seven years, the Nationwide Consultancy for Adult Learning (NCAL) Ltd has been developing a library of tools that it has used to support its client base of learning providers preparing for inspections. NCAL has now made much of this library of resources available to learning providers to use for free!

On their site, NCAL note you are now able to “…. browse through up to 60 well tried and tested items including forms, checklists, staff development presentations, diagnostic tools, sample policies and many more”.

They also note: “…The materials have been developed and refined over the years to be used as templates which our clients can adapt and customise to their own house-style. Many of them have played a part in the achievement of grade 1s!”

There is a wide range of tools and templates in this library, mostly in Microsoft Office formats so you can download the resources and refine them to your own organisations needs. They could also sit very nicely within a Quality Improvement area of your staff intranet or Virtual Learning Environment. There are several categories spanning Equality and Diversity, Leadership and Management, Learner Journey and Quality Improvement.

You can access the free resources on NCAL’s website.

Free video-conferencing for learning providers

I’ve mentioned Dim Dim on here previously, its a free video conferencing tool. My colleagues and I have recently been showing how much potential this tool has for learning providers.

For example videoconferencing could be used to...

* support groups of remote learners who can access a tutor led session from their own PCs (no downloads required).

* many training providers have several centres and staff are required to travel to attend meetings. Using videoconferencing reduces the need for that, saving travel costs and travel time for the company. (Reducing carbon footprints too!)

* to host short staff training sessions online - these might also be recorded for later playback.

There are several options for free videoconferencing software, Dim Dim is not the only choice, but it is a favourite of ours at the moment because of its ease of use and the fact that it is an excellent free option. I’ve mentioned more in a previous post which has links to a BBC review too. A new version has also just been released with additional features making it an even stronger contender to many of the videoconferencing tools you pay large fees for.

If you haven’t yet seen Dim Dim or experienced videoconferencing, possibly because you were put off by the technical requirements, know how or cost, the good news is Dim Dim now addresses much of that. If you would like to know more here's a one minute video that highlights Dim Dim in more detail, this previous post has additional reviews or feel free to get in touch with any questions or comments.

NLN learning resources, whats on the horizon?

RSC South East ran a seminar recently in which Rod Paley, Managing Director of Xtensis talked about the National Learning Network learning reources, (NLN materials) and the plans for their development.

The NLN materials are interactive learning packages that can now be used by LSC funded work based learning providers for free. I’ve mentioned them previously here.

During the session, Rob introduced the new NLN site and talked about plans to make the materials more usable and accessible. He mentioned:·

* Plans to introduce a ratings system to encourage feedback.

* New levels of visibility which will allow colleagues to be able to share and edit personal collections of materials.

* Changes to the interface will improve the way some materials are launched.·

* Updates of the materials in line with the latest qualifications.

All LSC funded work based learning providers now have access to these free online learning resources - if you haven’t received your own log in details please get in touch.

RSC South East regularly hold these ‘Monday at 1 sessions’ in which they use video conferencing to present and discuss e-learning issues with delegates online. Not only is this a great way for people to network and get bite sized chunks of learning over lunch but it’s also ideal to get the chance to see the technology in action too. I hope we get to see more of these type events in the future. (Thanks for the invite Kaye!)

Digital Storytelling with Photostory

At a recent regional E-Guides Refresher event, staff from around 45 Work Based Learning organisations were shown how digital storytelling can be used to enhance the learning experience. Photostory was demonstrated and was a great tool to use for this purpose. Not only because it’s free, but because its also very easy to get up and running with.

Photostory can be used to:

· Create slideshows using sets of digital photos that are then saved as short videos. These videos can then be watched on your TV, a computer, or a Windows Mobile–based portable device.

· Add special effects, soundtracks, and your own voice narration to photo stories. Then personalize them with titles and captions.

This is a great tool to use to enhance digital images that are captured and used by learners and as a way to engage them with digital media. The finished articles can also be a nice keepsake - finished videos can be distributed on a CD, uploaded to a web page, an e-portfolio or saved to other storage devices.

Of course, Photostory can also be used by training staff to create engaging electronic resources that use illustrations to get a point across.

It’s also worth noting that Photostory doesn’t need a video camera or any existing digital video recordings – just your digital photographs. This makes it a great tool to use to take still images to the next level with no cost and very little expertise.

Recently our National Work Based Learning Co-ordinator used Photostory to easily create a short video which talked about the possibilities for e-learning in the Work Based learning sector. This is very useful as the video itself also highlights a number of other useful (and free) tools that can be used for e-learning.

Here's another short video that will show how you can set up a Photostory yourself.

Microsoft’s Photo Story is available for free download from the Microsoft web site or for a guide on how to use the software click here. Hope its useful (and that if you create your own Photostory do let me know what you think of it…!)

Latest Discover-e

Last week we had our annual online conference which judging by the feedback and the evaluations so far, was a tremendous success. The three days featured a number of stars but the biggest star of all was possibly Dim Dim, an extremely useful free tool that we at the RSC are becoming increasingly fond of.

Dimdim is a FREE web conferencing service where you can share your desktop, show slides, collaborate, chat, talk and broadcast via webcam with absolutely no download required for attendees.

Used within our conference it allowed us to show PowerPoint presentations live on the web, with attendees logging it to view the slides, where they could also see the speaker on a live webcam, hear the accompanying audio and chat with other attendees using its chat facility. We could upload files to view and share live and even capture chat transcripts to share with anyone who couldn’t make the meeting. We used it to host live sessions on mobile learning, Moodle updates and to discuss using virtual worlds.


How else can it be used?
So DimDim can be used for online meetings, but the DimDim team also note that “...online learning, training, educational and non-profit organizations who want to save on travel expenses or have remote students positively love Dimdim....” We’re beginning to see why.

The BBC Click have also reported on how powerful DimDim is and their short video clip typically shows you what the application can do.

If you have ever thought about implementing any kind of video conferencing system yourself, we’d suggest you take a look at this little gem first. Last week it very successfully connected our West Midlands based trainers, teachers, managers, assessors with presenters from as far away as Perth, Australia and at the same time showed us what can be achieved with some imagination very little effort and no cost.

For many at this years Discover-e conference, I’d say that DimDim was perhaps the biggest find.

Free Software Options for Work Based Learning

A very big thanks to Derrin Kent of the Development Manager, who recently presented a session on free software at our online conference. Derrin kindly donated much of his time to present information and answer questions on free and open source software, showing how these tools can be used to enhance provision in the work based learning sector. He also shared a number of excellent resources some of which I'll shortly make available on our RSC wiki .

Derrins session presented a wide-ranging “training toolkit” of software applications – all available at zero financial cost. With his many years' educational management experience, Derrin perfectly understood the concerns with using free software and nicely contextualised the area, addressing both managers and trainers concerns. He also offerred a very long list of things that are currently available and can be adopted and used for free.

If you’re interested in discovering ways that your organisation might be able to make use of free software I’d suggest Derrin would be useful to know. His details are available on his website along with just a few reasons why so many of us all think that free software is increasingly becoming the way to go.

Searching for Images - another way

When searching for images do you have to click through online photo galleries or squint at thumbnails? Here’s what my colleagues and I now use to search for images on the web. PicLens, a free browser add-on which enables rich, full-screen slideshows of images.

It’s proved really popular here in the RSC office as its a great way to search for images on the web without having to go forwards and back from page, to page, to page - sure you get the picture.

PicLens is also free to download, and free to use. So it gets my vote there.

If you haven’t seen it yet try the guided tour here or a demo here. There's also a tutorial showing you how to use it here and an FAQ page for answers to questions about features, compatibility, and more.

(Thanks to John Dalziel for sharing!)

25 Tools for e-learning

Do you want to get to grips with the wide range of technologies and tools available for learning? If so you can now do this in a very practical way by trying out a core set of 25 tools (taken from the current Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008).

In this new free online staff development activity - simply called 25 tools - Jane Hart has grouped a series of simple tasks into activities which aim to help you to understand various e-learning technologies and find out what they are so popular. The suite of tools shows you how to:

· Understand the bare essentials
· Get an online presence and keep up to date
· Build content and share it with others
· Bring people together
· Develop and manage courses

Sounds good. But what I also like is that fact that the tools it covers are all FREE.

What’s more, 25 Tools “… doesn't reinvent the wheel; it makes good use of existing resources in a variety of formats including video and audio….It also encourages a social and collaborative approach to learning and includes a community, where users can share valuable input in terms of their own thoughts and experiences. Engagement comes from working with people not just interacting with content.”

I like the look of this and think its a great way to learn more about some of the e-learning tools you might have heard about or just have a nosey at what's popular and why. To get started have a look at what’s covered in the core toolset or learn more about the resource on the 25 tools site.

Using Google for your Surveys

Yesterday I spent some time playing with a new survey tool in Google Spreadsheets. (Thanks to Darren Draper for sharing this tip)

In his post he describes how we can create online surveys using Google Spreadsheets forms feature and shows us with illustrations just how easy it is to set one up. The post highlights the fact that results can also be viewed in real time and should you wish, they can also be embedded directly into a webpage.

This sounded like a great idea so I got my RSC colleagues to help me with a very quick sample of my own. So the very simple “what did you have for breakfast survey” is here - if you want to answer its two questions and see how it works feel free – it’s open to anyone. Because this survey is published live, you should see your results on a web page here and also in the live spreadsheet that I’ve embedded below. (Might have to wait a short while though, republishes every five minutes)


Like Darren I think this tool has a lot of potential. For example, a couple of possible applications of this tool within the sector are:

• Induction - Interactive questionnaire for learners and employers checking accessibility to hardware and broadband connection, survey link delivered via email.

• Internal/External Verification - Online Quality Assurance questionnaires used for sampling learners and employers.

(Both those tips are based on Innovate’s Examples of the Use of Technology in Work Based Learning).

I have used various other free survey tools previously (just one example here) but was very impressed with just how easy this Google one was to set up. With all of the collaborative tools built into Google spreadsheets and traditional spreadsheet functionality at your fingertips it’s potentially very powerful too. It’s something I will certainly use myself. In the meantime I’ll be adding this link to the Google Docs and Spreadsheets page of our RSC Wiki.

Thanks to Darren for sharing and to Stephen for signposting.

Free Manuals for Free Software

Recently I mentioned a listing of free software applications which are useful both at home and at work. Since then Ive discovered there are now also manuals about how to use this free software in the form of FLOSS Manuals, available online. (Once again thanks to Marcus P Zillman for the link).

Why is this important? Free software gives users the freedom to copy and redistribute the software which can potentially save learning providers a lot of money. However with lack of good documentation or training much of this software is overlooked. Thats one of the reasons why these free, customisable FLOSS manuals are a great idea.

In the first section of the site you can read manuals online or download them via PDF. These generally cover the following areas:

what does the software do and not do?

how to install and configure the software

a basic introduction to the interface

using the softwares most important features with hands-on step by step tutorials

where to go for more help


Through the WRITE section you can write manuals using a 'wiki'. You can see a wiki in action as well as learn more about the potential of wikis here.

Finally, what I think is the best bit... In the 'remix' section you can remix chapters from any of the manuals into a single pdf. These can have a table of contents automatically generated, and you can also include a cover that you can design yourself. These are ideal to provide to staff on CDs/USB sticks for reading offline and could also be useful for staff development. You can also include the remixed manual in your own webpage by cutting and pasting 5 lines of HTML.

These FLOSS Manuals are something I’ll definitely be using in the future, particularly when we are demonstrating free software for the Work Based Learning Sector. Watch this space and our events page for details.

162 Tips and Tricks for Working with e-Learning Tools

The eLearning Guild recently asked its members for their favourite tips for using software for the creation of e-Learning. This resulted in a total of 122 people contributing 162 usable tips that have now been collated as a free digital e-book. The tips range in length with some being very basic, and others quite advanced and include everything from customising clipart in Powerpoint to considering e-assessment.

Last year the E-Learning Guild also published “The eLearning Guild's Handbook of e-Learning Strategy”. This e-Book aims to help learning providers make a connection between learning, e-Learning and their organization's mission, business objectives, and the bottom line. In that, chapters addressed everything from crafting a focused strategy, to keeping your strategy focused, to change management.

The books are aimed at an American audience but are still relavent as the tools and suggestions they make are universal. They can both be downloaded from the E-Learning Guild site here.

Creating E-Resources, Trainers Doing it for Themselves

An increasing number of work based learning providers are moving towards installing learning platforms or environments that now make electronic learning materials available to their learners. Consequently, delivery staff are also being encouraged to also make their resources suitable for this medium, but as Wikipedia notes... “..the vast majority of teachers do not have the technical skills to build their own web pages, and must therefore rely on the availability of web developers to generate professional looking online content.”

I'd suggest that was true in a lot of cases, but Ive been recently pleased to see that with exe, a free content creation tool, many delivery staff now can and are, doing it for themseves.

Exe is an e-learning editor (or content creation tool) that can be used to create web-based learning and teaching materials without the need to know html or to use web-publishing applications.

Curious to know more? Here are a few links to get you started.

* Watch a very brief you tube video introduction to what eXe is all about.
* Download the software form the exe learning site where you’ll also find links to support forums etc.
* Take a look at RSC North Wests e-book that explains how to use exe which you can access in their online e-library. (Thanks to John Dalziel for that)
* Visit Exe’s Wikipedia page for online tutorials, and hints and tips to show you how to use the software.
* The free E-Guides programme includes a workshop that will show you staff how to access and use exe.
* RSC West Midlands is scheduling a content creation workshop that will cover using exe (as well as other open source tools). Keep an eye on our events page for details.
* Any other questions, feel free to get in touch (or use the comments below).