Hi all,
I'd like to dedicate this post specially to Lynda Robinson, the backbone of the team. Kudos to you, Lynda...this is indeed a race well run for us as a team. All the best in all that you set out to do!
Please find the link to our last post on the Framework's website below. It will give you a clear picture to what we have done in this project.
http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/content/creating-connections-empowering-business-education
We have learnt so much throughout this project and we only have 3 words for anyone out there who is considering E-Learning as a teaching and learning platform, Just Do It! It will bring you to places that you have never been, and the sense of fulfilment that comes with it is just indescribable. We are very grateful as a team to have been given the opportunity to be a part of this huge project and the lessons learnt will be carried with us for life. A big thank you to Australian Flexible Learning Framework, Cambridge International College and Pace Print for all the support throughout this project.
Cheers!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
An overdue update!
Hey all... I am really slacking in updating the progress of our project. My bad.
Anyway, I'll get straight into it. We managed to get a pilot group which consists of our very own students as well as a few representatives from the industry to trial the usability of the tutorials that Lynda developed using Adobe Captivate; How to Use a Pen Tool and How to Create a Repeating Pattern. We were mainly gathering feedback on a few aspects of the tutorials and the results were very positive. The pilot group loved using Moodle as a learning tool which has been engouraging to our team as part of the outcome of this project. Everything about Moodle was foreign to them and the fact that they got accustomed to it so quickly was absolutely a great sign to the team.
From the feedback above, we have since worked on the aspects we scored lowest in, particularly on the user information that explain how to use Moodle. We had to go back to the basics to simplify everything for our VET learners. We discovered that the level of computer literacy varied and this required us to rethink the whole online learning platform to a new user. It became obvious that we had to plan everything before we even attempted to put any information into our Moodle as it was easy to be confused and confusing!
Anyway, I'll get straight into it. We managed to get a pilot group which consists of our very own students as well as a few representatives from the industry to trial the usability of the tutorials that Lynda developed using Adobe Captivate; How to Use a Pen Tool and How to Create a Repeating Pattern. We were mainly gathering feedback on a few aspects of the tutorials and the results were very positive. The pilot group loved using Moodle as a learning tool which has been engouraging to our team as part of the outcome of this project. Everything about Moodle was foreign to them and the fact that they got accustomed to it so quickly was absolutely a great sign to the team.
From the feedback above, we have since worked on the aspects we scored lowest in, particularly on the user information that explain how to use Moodle. We had to go back to the basics to simplify everything for our VET learners. We discovered that the level of computer literacy varied and this required us to rethink the whole online learning platform to a new user. It became obvious that we had to plan everything before we even attempted to put any information into our Moodle as it was easy to be confused and confusing!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Moodle Noodle
It's about time for some updates...
The last couple of months have been spent fiddling with Moodle..or Noodle as how Lynda would say it. CIC was selected by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework to share at the Moodle meet-up about how we arrived at using Moodle. As we would all agree, Moodle is a free open source Learning Management System and is very popular amongst the education providers worldwide, making it the obvious choice for CIC. A few months into the project and Lynda has learnt the art of using Moodle. It may be or may not be complicated working on Moodle depending on your level of technical coupled with design skills. There are many resources that are available out there to assist you with this, that's how we got ours set up. Not to mention, Douglas (SA Toolbox Champion / Innovations Coordinator) has been a tremendous help to Lynda along the way.
12 movies on Design Concept are now uploaded onto Moodle, with quizzes for each unit underway. Our business partner, Pace Print will be reviewing the materials on Moodle and their feedbacks will be taken into considerations to improve the learning experience for their staff. This will all take place within the next week or so.
To view CIC's Moodle, please click on the following link:
www.cictrainingsa.com.au/training
We welcome any feedbacks for further improvement.
Cheers.
The last couple of months have been spent fiddling with Moodle..or Noodle as how Lynda would say it. CIC was selected by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework to share at the Moodle meet-up about how we arrived at using Moodle. As we would all agree, Moodle is a free open source Learning Management System and is very popular amongst the education providers worldwide, making it the obvious choice for CIC. A few months into the project and Lynda has learnt the art of using Moodle. It may be or may not be complicated working on Moodle depending on your level of technical coupled with design skills. There are many resources that are available out there to assist you with this, that's how we got ours set up. Not to mention, Douglas (SA Toolbox Champion / Innovations Coordinator) has been a tremendous help to Lynda along the way.
12 movies on Design Concept are now uploaded onto Moodle, with quizzes for each unit underway. Our business partner, Pace Print will be reviewing the materials on Moodle and their feedbacks will be taken into considerations to improve the learning experience for their staff. This will all take place within the next week or so.
To view CIC's Moodle, please click on the following link:
www.cictrainingsa.com.au/training
We welcome any feedbacks for further improvement.
Cheers.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Captivate Me?
Captivate was the programme CIC purchased for the purpose of this project. It is great for making software instructional movies. Captivate uses stills as well as movies and you can also add voice, though I chose not to as the final movie would have been too large to stream.
The hardest thing was working out what information to add and what to leave out, and then how to explain without being too confusing or making the instructions more complicated than necessary. As both movies are "basic" I assumed everyone watching would not know anything or know very little about Illustrator and other graphics programme.
The order in which to present the information was the next thing to work out. Illustrator, like all graphics programmes, has several ways in which you can create the same thing. As a user one way becomes a preference once you start creating files and have worked with a specific programme a number of times. So the movies I have created are one way of using the tools in Illustrator but are not the only way.
My way of learning new things is just to start, I do not read instructions and I learn by doing with the end goal in mind. I do not consider the small details of how that will be reached along the way. So in my first attempt, the movie was not logical! I showed Greg, our team member, who politely said it was hard to follow or something similar, I cannot remember exactly, but basically I had to start again!
Next, I wrote a step by step script at the same time as I created a "motif" using the pen tool myself. All the time imagining someone following my instructions; I think it resulted in two logical movies.
It is hard to write information clearly and concisely when at first glance the process seems complicated. The pen tool is hard to master because it takes practice and a good measure of patience. To create a motif that is soft edged, as opposed to looking like it has been cut out with a pair of giant scissors, is not instantaneous. You have to get use to using the handles or bezier points to make a drawing life-like and then there is this thing of making one continuous line so you can fill it at the end and also learning to use the keyboard short cuts because sometimes you have to do two things at once and so it goes on.
Xiao, another team member and our resident blogger, was my first guinea pig. She had no previous experience of any graphic software but did understand pre-press and the output standards used in the industry, so a great candidate.
Xiao has now given me useful feedback on her experience which I am now adding to the movies; more detailed diagrams that explain the tools and what layers are and more detailed information on how to use the "handles" or bezier points in the pen tool. In my defense(!) it was hard to judge how far to go with the level of instruction I wrote and demonstrated. If someone does know what I am saying they can always press the forward button, so more information in this case is a good thing!
Hopefully the end result will be two instructional movies that students, and anyone who is interested, will find helpful and inspiring as Illustrator is a fantastic drawing programme that is truly mind boggling once you know your way around a few basics. The skills in these movies are also transferable between other graphics software which is an added bonus to the required patience and practice at the beginning!
Homer asked in one of the early Simpson episodes "Are you being helpful or just going on and on?" I hope I have not just gone on and on and this briefly explains what I have been up to in the last few months, in between dealing with my other job. And that what I have written and created in the movies is indeed useful or helpful enough to share with the world and is going to be useful to our company and our students in the future.
Another quote from Homer who said, when following the instruction; to start, press any key "where's the ANY key?" I hope you will know after watching the movies.
Lynda Robinson
Content Developer
The hardest thing was working out what information to add and what to leave out, and then how to explain without being too confusing or making the instructions more complicated than necessary. As both movies are "basic" I assumed everyone watching would not know anything or know very little about Illustrator and other graphics programme.
The order in which to present the information was the next thing to work out. Illustrator, like all graphics programmes, has several ways in which you can create the same thing. As a user one way becomes a preference once you start creating files and have worked with a specific programme a number of times. So the movies I have created are one way of using the tools in Illustrator but are not the only way.
My way of learning new things is just to start, I do not read instructions and I learn by doing with the end goal in mind. I do not consider the small details of how that will be reached along the way. So in my first attempt, the movie was not logical! I showed Greg, our team member, who politely said it was hard to follow or something similar, I cannot remember exactly, but basically I had to start again!
Next, I wrote a step by step script at the same time as I created a "motif" using the pen tool myself. All the time imagining someone following my instructions; I think it resulted in two logical movies.
It is hard to write information clearly and concisely when at first glance the process seems complicated. The pen tool is hard to master because it takes practice and a good measure of patience. To create a motif that is soft edged, as opposed to looking like it has been cut out with a pair of giant scissors, is not instantaneous. You have to get use to using the handles or bezier points to make a drawing life-like and then there is this thing of making one continuous line so you can fill it at the end and also learning to use the keyboard short cuts because sometimes you have to do two things at once and so it goes on.
Xiao, another team member and our resident blogger, was my first guinea pig. She had no previous experience of any graphic software but did understand pre-press and the output standards used in the industry, so a great candidate.
Xiao has now given me useful feedback on her experience which I am now adding to the movies; more detailed diagrams that explain the tools and what layers are and more detailed information on how to use the "handles" or bezier points in the pen tool. In my defense(!) it was hard to judge how far to go with the level of instruction I wrote and demonstrated. If someone does know what I am saying they can always press the forward button, so more information in this case is a good thing!
Hopefully the end result will be two instructional movies that students, and anyone who is interested, will find helpful and inspiring as Illustrator is a fantastic drawing programme that is truly mind boggling once you know your way around a few basics. The skills in these movies are also transferable between other graphics software which is an added bonus to the required patience and practice at the beginning!
Homer asked in one of the early Simpson episodes "Are you being helpful or just going on and on?" I hope I have not just gone on and on and this briefly explains what I have been up to in the last few months, in between dealing with my other job. And that what I have written and created in the movies is indeed useful or helpful enough to share with the world and is going to be useful to our company and our students in the future.
Another quote from Homer who said, when following the instruction; to start, press any key "where's the ANY key?" I hope you will know after watching the movies.
 |
| Courtesy of Google Images http://www.simpsonstrivia.com.ar/simpsons-photos/simpsons-trivia.gif |
Lynda Robinson
Content Developer
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Empowering Business Education - Where Are We Headed?
Greetings! I am updating this on behalf of Leon, our industry liaison for this project. So, how are we going with our business partner, Pace Print in this project..
Well, Pace Print has experienced unprecedented volumes of production work during late May, June and July. To meet these demands the whole workforce has been stretched to the limit to cope with these seasonal demands. On top of all this, Greg and wife, Amelia (partner in the business) endured moving house and a serious accident with their little boy. It seems that thankfully the worst is over now and we wish the Pace family our sincere best wishes.
On a brighter note, Greg indicated that his printing operator was quite excited to be given the opportunity to be upskilled with a Certificate III in Printing and Graphic Arts (Pre-press). He has emphasised the need for Pace Print to keep "pace" (no pun intended) :) with the lightning speed of technological change. Moving forward Greg is confident that the proposed training will make Pace Print much more flexible in production and more importantly his staff will be much more resourced to cope with further expansion.
On the expansion note because of our E-Learning innovation Greg is expected to apprentice at least one person (possibly two) before the start of our program.
Leon will be attending a IBSA ICP10 Printing and Graphic Arts Training Package Professional Development Workshop on 25th August 2010. This is a face-to-face hands on workshop training that is available for the printing industry i.e. qualifications, where are we up to regarding modern training methods related to current competencies and qualifications, how to structure your training / qualifications to meet your commercial needs and the current status of traineeships / apprenticeships. This workshop will be useful in understanding further where Graphic Pre-press is headed. After recent industry consultation we have come to understand that traineeships / apprenticeships in Graphic Pre-press have in recent times become less popular. The professional development workshop may be useful to educate and unify thinking within the printing industry allowing us more opportunity to understand and meet the changing training requirements.
Exciting times ahead...full of challenges yet it is not impossible to achieve what we have set out to do.
Well, Pace Print has experienced unprecedented volumes of production work during late May, June and July. To meet these demands the whole workforce has been stretched to the limit to cope with these seasonal demands. On top of all this, Greg and wife, Amelia (partner in the business) endured moving house and a serious accident with their little boy. It seems that thankfully the worst is over now and we wish the Pace family our sincere best wishes.
On a brighter note, Greg indicated that his printing operator was quite excited to be given the opportunity to be upskilled with a Certificate III in Printing and Graphic Arts (Pre-press). He has emphasised the need for Pace Print to keep "pace" (no pun intended) :) with the lightning speed of technological change. Moving forward Greg is confident that the proposed training will make Pace Print much more flexible in production and more importantly his staff will be much more resourced to cope with further expansion.
On the expansion note because of our E-Learning innovation Greg is expected to apprentice at least one person (possibly two) before the start of our program.
Leon will be attending a IBSA ICP10 Printing and Graphic Arts Training Package Professional Development Workshop on 25th August 2010. This is a face-to-face hands on workshop training that is available for the printing industry i.e. qualifications, where are we up to regarding modern training methods related to current competencies and qualifications, how to structure your training / qualifications to meet your commercial needs and the current status of traineeships / apprenticeships. This workshop will be useful in understanding further where Graphic Pre-press is headed. After recent industry consultation we have come to understand that traineeships / apprenticeships in Graphic Pre-press have in recent times become less popular. The professional development workshop may be useful to educate and unify thinking within the printing industry allowing us more opportunity to understand and meet the changing training requirements.
Exciting times ahead...full of challenges yet it is not impossible to achieve what we have set out to do.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Clash of the Titans
Hi there! A quick update on what's been happening.. As mentioned in my earlier post, Lynda has been busy translating our existing material for one of the core units, Design Concepts into E-Learning materials. We have unaminously decided to use Moodle, a free and dynamic open source E-Learning software platform to deliver part of our training. What is Moodle? I had no idea about it at first, but as we dig in to the project, I have started to gain more understanding of what Moodle is and how it can be used as a tool for online learning. One word - impressive.
Now, Noodle...oops....Moodle (as how Lynda always says it), is all about creating and promoting learning in a web environment. Learners will get to access it whenever and wherever they are as long as there is a computer in front of them. The interesting thing is you have the freedom to design Moodle to complement the corporate image, all to your own liking.
Having said that, because there is too much freedom involved in how you want Moodle to be, Lynda and Greg has been ironing out the details of how our Moodle should look like. Lynda, from a Graphic Design background, wants our Moodle to be engaging and interactive. She based it on the 2 seconds rule where if it is not appealing to you in that 2 second, we have lost you. Greg on the other hand, being an IT guy is thinking about the practicality of the features designed. He is pretty much a problem solver in this situation, constantly thinking what problems might occur if we do it this way or that way.
It was interesting to see the two of them work.They started their own Moodle to try and understand a seemingly complicated, multi choice data-based driven... nightmare! :) It's all good now as the two attempts have been converted into one that contains the same look and feel of our website. Lynda is determined to not have our Moodle look too "Moodley" and Greg is eliminating every possibility of any problems which may occur ever, by anyone in existence and those to come!
That brought the end to the clash of the titans.
Now, Noodle...oops....Moodle (as how Lynda always says it), is all about creating and promoting learning in a web environment. Learners will get to access it whenever and wherever they are as long as there is a computer in front of them. The interesting thing is you have the freedom to design Moodle to complement the corporate image, all to your own liking.
Having said that, because there is too much freedom involved in how you want Moodle to be, Lynda and Greg has been ironing out the details of how our Moodle should look like. Lynda, from a Graphic Design background, wants our Moodle to be engaging and interactive. She based it on the 2 seconds rule where if it is not appealing to you in that 2 second, we have lost you. Greg on the other hand, being an IT guy is thinking about the practicality of the features designed. He is pretty much a problem solver in this situation, constantly thinking what problems might occur if we do it this way or that way.
It was interesting to see the two of them work.They started their own Moodle to try and understand a seemingly complicated, multi choice data-based driven... nightmare! :) It's all good now as the two attempts have been converted into one that contains the same look and feel of our website. Lynda is determined to not have our Moodle look too "Moodley" and Greg is eliminating every possibility of any problems which may occur ever, by anyone in existence and those to come!
That brought the end to the clash of the titans.
Monday, June 28, 2010
www.cictrainingsa.com.au
Yes! This is it, the long awaited website that the team has been working on. After much consultation and deliberation, GREG has done it again. This website was developed mainly as a reference for employers and local businesses to the training solutions and courses that CIC has to offer. It really does serve as a marketing tool in promoting the E-Learning initiative that CIC is engaged in. To view the website go to www.cictrainingsa.com.au
The website has been designed to accommodate and promote all CIC SA domestic courses and initiatives as they arise. While currently very course-specific and light on content, this could perhaps be used as a starting point for CIC SA. We are thrilled that we have the website up and going. Any feedbacks would be welcomed.
The website has been designed to accommodate and promote all CIC SA domestic courses and initiatives as they arise. While currently very course-specific and light on content, this could perhaps be used as a starting point for CIC SA. We are thrilled that we have the website up and going. Any feedbacks would be welcomed.
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