eLearningSPOT

Tweets for the Week of 2010-04-18

Angela Fardo — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:00:00 +0000

It's like the YouTube of eLearning. Screenr is a fun little tool with a lot of possibilities. http://screenr.com/ #

February 14, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-02-14
December 6, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-12-06
November 15, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-15
July 5, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-07-05
June 28, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-28
June 21, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-21
June 14, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-14
June 9, 2009 — eLearning Links 2009-06-09
June 16, 2009 — Twitter & eLearning
October 21, 2008 — Vote for the Best of 2008

Tweets for the Week of 2010-02-14

Angela Fardo — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:00:00 +0000

Best Twitter Apps from G4TV http://bit.ly/dg5Vmp #

April 18, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-04-18
December 6, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-12-06
November 15, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-15
July 5, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-07-05
June 28, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-28
June 21, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-21
June 14, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-14
June 9, 2009 — eLearning Links 2009-06-09
June 16, 2009 — Twitter & eLearning
October 21, 2008 — Vote for the Best of 2008

Tweets for the Week of 2009-12-06

Angela Fardo — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Anyone have any idea how to simulate a control click using Captivate? #

April 18, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-04-18
February 14, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-02-14
November 15, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-15
July 5, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-07-05
June 28, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-28
June 21, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-21
June 14, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-14
June 9, 2009 — eLearning Links 2009-06-09
June 16, 2009 — Twitter & eLearning
October 21, 2008 — Vote for the Best of 2008

Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-15

Angela Fardo — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:00:00 +0000

RT @julieastd: #dl09 Lance Dublin during lunch. Design first then determine what technology to use – not the other way around. #
I won a Mr. Mystery Invisible Ink Book in Casual Games Serious Learning today! I haven’t had one of these since I was a kid. #DL09 #
RT @carmean: @quinnovator such a smart synthesizer. Check out the @amacafee keynote mind map: http://blog.learnlets.com/?p=1315 #dl09 #
I agree with McAffee. Don’t get caught up in strategy. Innovate! #dl09 #
RT @carmentaran: Aesthetics in eLearning. 1 thought from the speech: good design is intelligence made visible. #
RT @rjacquez: RT @pam_brandpointe: RT @TechCrunch Hate It Or Love It, Twitter’s New Retweet Style Rolling Out http://bit.ly/3FA7SK #
Sneak peek of Adobe Captivate for Mac http://bit.ly/35bpoy #
Previewing Google Wave. http://bit.ly/32MOwB #
RT @TerrenceWing: captivate4 supports 64 bit utilizing WOW. unknown with windows 7. C5 should not have prob #astd #dl09 #als09 #
Adobe Captivate for Mac article on eLearningSPOT http://bit.ly/183hRZ #als09 #
Adobe Captivate for Power Users this afternoon. #als09 #
Captivate for Mac will allow you to have more than one project open at a time. Hooray! #als09 #
Captivate for Mac will allow you to have more than one project open at a time. Hooray! #
#als09 Checking out Captivate for the Mac session. #
is at the Adobe Learning Summit today. #

April 18, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-04-18
February 14, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-02-14
December 6, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-12-06
July 5, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-07-05
June 28, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-28
June 21, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-21
June 14, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-14
June 9, 2009 — eLearning Links 2009-06-09
June 16, 2009 — Twitter & eLearning
October 21, 2008 — Vote for the Best of 2008

Adobe Captivate for Mac Preview

Angela Fardo — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:04:51 +0000

So I had the pleasure of getting a sneak peak at Adobe Captivate for the Mac at the Adobe Learning Summit today. Currently, Adobe Captivate is only available on the PC, whereas all of my fun visual programs reside on my nice shiny Mac. Here are my first impressions. The first demo showed how Captivate is moving away from diving into menu after menu. For those of you who use Captivate on a regular basis, you know that often times you have to dig three menus down to get to that pesky mouse setting you would like to change. Adobe showed that they are moving away from this model to more timely information showing up in toolbars on the main screen much like Flash. Second thing that popped of the page for me was the ability to have more than one Captivate project open at a time. Currently, to grab slides from two interactions, you have to open one project, highlight the appropriate slides, copy them, close that project and reopen the other. No thanks… Although I am not always able to re-use screens, it’s definitely nice to be able to quickly jump back and forth between projects for consistencies sake.

Also reviewed in the presentation was the ability to add multiple questions at one time. So for example, instead of adding a single question slide at a time, you can now identify how many of each question type you would like to add and Captivate will automatically generate all of the slides you need in one go.

All in all, my first impression is a good one. However, I did pose the following question to the Adobe folks at the session and that is, “Will there be more integration and less menu selection when dealing with mouse alignment and properties in the Mac version or within Captivate 5?” For me, these particular functions seem to be key factors in my ongoing quest to develop carpal tunnel. The response was vague, so it sounds like I’ll be banging these menus to pieces for a while yet.

I was signed up for the beta program today, so a more detailed hands on review is forthcoming.

June 9, 2009 — Adobe announces beta for Captivate for the Mac
June 19, 2009 — Adobe Captivate 4 Patch

Tweets for the Week of 2009-07-05

Angela Fardo — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Multimedia Learning » 3 Ways to Create Engaging E-learning Bullets http://bit.ly/15Ux24 #

April 18, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-04-18
February 14, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-02-14
December 6, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-12-06
November 15, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-15
June 28, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-28
June 21, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-21
June 14, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-14
June 9, 2009 — eLearning Links 2009-06-09
June 16, 2009 — Twitter & eLearning
October 21, 2008 — Vote for the Best of 2008

Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-28

Angela Fardo — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Google Wave – Social Learning – Business – eLearning Hot List : eLearning Technology http://bit.ly/JF4Il #
RT @knowhemispheres: Email vs. Social Networking: Is Email Slowly Becoming Extinct? http://tinyurl.com/lu26cv #
RT @eLearnNTU: eLearning news: eportfolios – how-to use WikiSpaces to create an interactive electronic portfolio.. http://bit.ly/tNclN #
Bottom-Line Performance » Blog Archive » Learning games – some interesting ideas http://bit.ly/148ZNv #

April 18, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-04-18
February 14, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-02-14
December 6, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-12-06
November 15, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-15
July 5, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-07-05
June 21, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-21
June 14, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-14
June 9, 2009 — eLearning Links 2009-06-09
June 16, 2009 — Twitter & eLearning
October 21, 2008 — Vote for the Best of 2008

Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-21

Angela Fardo — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Looking for programs that do online gaming well without all that Flash dev time. Any suggestions..experiences are welcome. #
#FollowFriday A shout out to: @allisunelearns @iThinkMedia @elearningPosts @ Dr_elearning @c4lpt @lyndadotcom Good stuff! #elearning #
learnability matters » Three Ways to Test Effectiveness Without Learners http://bit.ly/Jgtdx #
Feedback. The Creativity Killer. http://bit.ly/aMYAk #
The Rapid eLearning Here’s Why You Need an eLearning Portfolio Blog http://bit.ly/Lym8k #
RT @jcoignard: Does Google Wave mean the end of LMS ? http://bit.ly/we3LT #elearning #
Twenty-Five Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom – Google Docs http://bit.ly/zeHii #elearning #
Check out this eduFire class: Introduction to Teaching with Moodle http://tinyurl.com/q7teq6 #
Just added myself to the http://wefollow.com twitter directory under: #elearning #instructionaldesign #techn #
32 online tools that can help your tech freelancing career | View from the Cubicle | TechRepublic.com http://bit.ly/DCqN1 #

April 18, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-04-18
February 14, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-02-14
December 6, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-12-06
November 15, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-15
July 5, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-07-05
June 28, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-28
June 14, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-14
June 9, 2009 — eLearning Links 2009-06-09
June 16, 2009 — Twitter & eLearning
October 21, 2008 — Vote for the Best of 2008

Adobe Captivate 4 Patch

Angela Fardo — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:58:39 +0000

Today Adobe announced the release of a patch for Adobe Captivate 4 to correct reported sound quality issues. This upgrade is not automatic so users will need to go to “Help > Updates” to download the latest and greatest. Some other things addressed within the download include USB microphone support for Vista, correction to an issue opening projects, some memory leaks, image quality upon resize and undefined variables in the widget template. Click here to get the latest patch or read more information on the release on the Adobe Captivate blog here.

November 10, 2009 — Adobe Captivate for Mac Preview
June 9, 2009 — Adobe announces beta for Captivate for the Mac

Build Your Own Microphone Pop Screen

Michelle Lasure — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:29:57 +0000

One of the bigger hassles in editing voice audio tracks is cleaning up loud pops in the recording where plosive ‘p’ and ‘b’ sounds cause a burst of volume. These are easily avoided by placing a screen between the person speaking or singing and the microphone. By creating a fixed distance between the vocalist and the microphone you get the added bonus of reducing sibilant sounds made through speaking words with ’s’ and ‘ch’. Buying a pop screen from a music supply store will set you back $20-30, depending on the quality of the screen and the stand on which it’s mounted. It’s easy to build your own screen with some nylons and an embroidery hoop available at most craft stores for a couple of dollars.

Sibilance and plosives

Sibilance and plosive sounds do more damage to a vocal track than almost anything other than turning up the gain to the point of distortion. If you listen carefully to almost any recording you do both types of disruptive vocal tonalities are quite easy to pick out.

Sibilance is that lisping ’s’ sound you hear from words that start or end with the official letter of Superman and shrill sounds generated from the ‘ch’ combination so popular with cats who adore curled cheese snacks. You can sometimes de-ess a recording in software after it’s finished by using multiband EQ to eliminate the offending frequencies or by running your entire recording through a de-essing plug-in. The best way to prevent overloading a recording with sibilant sounds is to talk into the microphone at a slight angle so the ’s’ sounds don’t hit the microphone directly. Staying slightly off the microphone in the six-inch range also helps because the air between the microphone and your mouth gives the ’s’ sibilant sounds a chance to dissipate.

Plosive sounds are the percussive vocal blasts created when speaking words with hard ‘p’ and ‘b’ sounds. The sounds create a volume spike which skews your recording and may distort audio with a loud pop where the sound appeared. Those bursts of vocal impact can be held in check quite easily by putting a pop screen (sometimes called a pop blocker) in front of the microphone. A pop screen is basically a thin nylon or metal mesh stretched on a frame.

You can build your own pop screen and stand with more durability and all the pop elimination you need to sound like a pro. To make a pop screen and stand you need the following items:

6″ Embroidery Hoop	$1.46
Generic Pantyhose	$1.50
1/2-inch Split Flex Tubing	$1.12
2 feet 10-2 Wire	$1.50
7.5″ Black zip ties	$1.74
1 1/4″ Compression fitting (from plumbing)	$0.25
Optional 1″ Spring Clamp	$2.09
Total Cost	$9.66 ($7.57)

When you make the screen the first thing you need to do is cut off the top part of the pantyhose at thigh level, which leaves you with two separate leg pieces. Take one leg and cut a line from the thigh down to the toe. At the toe, cut the toe end straight across leaving you with a long rectangular sheet.

After separating the embroidery hoop into two pieces, fold the pantyhose in half and stretch it across the inside hoop. Keeping the nylon hose as tight as possible, place the outside portion of the embroidery hoop on top of it and tighten the compression fitting so the two hoops hold the nylon snugly in place. You’ll be left with a square edge all the way around the hoop.

Trim the leftover nylon so that no excess scrap is sticking out from the embroidery hoop. At this point, you have a finished screen capable of blocking pops with ease. Of course, you’re limited to holding the screen in front of the microphone throughout the record process, which may become tiresome.

The 10-guage electrical wiring provides the stability and flexibility required to support the weight of the screen while allowing you to bend it to adjust as needed. Split flex tubing hides the wiring providing a more polished look to the stand arm. A compression fitting meant to connect water piping holds the stand in place at the base and a zip tie secures the screen to the end of the stand.

Bend the 10-guage wire into a shape meant to fit in front of the microphone. Cover the wire with the flex tubing up to the point where the wire gets fastened to the microphone stand.

Secure the wire to the microphone stand with the compression fitting. Zip ties work here to but if you need to make adjustments you need to cut them and start over. With the fitting, just unscrew, adjust and tighten. Find the point where the screen will connect to the top of the wire and trim the flex tubing leaving any remaining wire exposed.

After marking the position on the wire covered by the screen, trim the wire to fit. After trimming the wire, fasten the pop screen to the wire by running a zip tie around the wire and the metal screw of the compression fitting on the embroidery hoop. You now have a finished pop screen for under $10.

Excerpt taken from Jake Ludington’s MediaBlab.

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July 5, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-07-05
June 19, 2009 — Adobe Captivate 4 Patch
October 1, 2008 — Assessment & Evaluation
December 6, 2008 — Articulate & the Flash 10 Patch
November 10, 2009 — Adobe Captivate for Mac Preview
February 14, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-02-14
April 18, 2010 — Tweets for the Week of 2010-04-18
October 3, 2008 — eLearning Defined
June 14, 2009 — Tweets for the Week of 2009-06-14
October 21, 2008 — Vote for the Best of 2008