Adam Lossing - Musings of a Digital Nomad

I was part of a group from the JIBC that visited UBC Studios today. Saeed Dyanatkar graciously greeted us and gave us a brief history of media production at UBC. The "Light Board" was one of the most captivating tools they have on offer. From their website's page.. "Using the Lightboard is like drawing on a traditional whiteboard, except you face your “students” (the camera) and write on an illuminated board of glass in front of you using neon markers. Light is reflected off the markers, creating a visually appealing “floating-text” concept, and the camera flips the image so the text is readable in your video. This is especially useful when presenting visually-oriented concepts and theories that involve graphics, equations, and diagrams. You can also use graphic overlays or backgrounds to annotate and reference during your presentation. The Lightboard Studio is equipped with proper lights, camera, monitors, microphones, and markers for the board, and ...

The Brutalist/Minimalist approach to web design is the subject of today's broadcast on CBC's Spark program. The coolest piece for me is the a new project called   Txti   which is more Minimalist than Brutalist, but no less intriguing and on trend. It was built by  Barry T Smith ,  a user experience designer in Louisville Kentucky. Checkout the   web page and podcast  on CBC's Spark with Nora Young.

Outline My development of training utilizes an Agile approach. Agile increases flexibility to a project while keeping to deadlines and budget. This comes about because I work in short cycles of Design, Development and Deployment called "Sprints". At the end of one of my Sprints, I have the opportunity to showcase modularized eLearning objects and seek feedback. Sprints continue until the project has a full set of modular eLearning objects that form a complete eLearning course. Needs Analysis This is a part of the Agile eLearning development model that is often skipped over or minimized. I include a rigorous needs analysis because there are often existing practices and content that can be repurposed by organizations. My work with clients in this phase, includes cataloging and mapping all of the currently used training documents, learning objects and delivery practices so that they are readily available during the scrums (design phase). Scrum (Design) W...

This is an example of a storyboard that was used to create simulated fire scene scenarios in Storyline. It is displayed here as an embedded iframe from a redacted version of the original, as it forms the basis of a secured assessment tool for the fire service. To view all of the aspects of the storyboard, such as the way the "comments" and the "notes" facilities in Google Slides was used to support the multimedia specialist that built the courseware, please use the link below. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-lnUCbpqlR_xeFqH0U_7TbtsiQvDTywdy0x_1m8hIC4/edit?usp=sharing Please note that Google Slides player can go full screen, show the speaker notes and "turn on the lazer pointer"! Clicking on the images of the burning building will start the audio for the slide.

Guidelines for Producing User Surveys with Actionable Results Taken from: Performance Focused Smile Sheets by Will Thalheimer Thalhiemer, W., (2016). Performance focused style sheets: A radical rethinking of a dangerous art form. (n.p.) Work-Learning Press ISBN-13: 978-1-941577-00-4 Summarized by Adam Lossing July 2016 Basic Guidelines Quality of users’ decisions 1.       Remind users of the experience: a.       integrate the topic into the question b.       a list of topics before the question 2.       Increase user attention a.       A persuasive and personal appeal should introduce the importance of the survey b.       Manage the length so that it is not too short or too long c.       Offer an interaction after the survey so that the survey is not the last thing they do with ...

At the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC), we have moved the fire service training from LMS repository based delivery approach to an immersive and interactive one. This incorporated a massive change, so the large project team needed to have a way of tracking tasks that was available across divisions. The network structure did not support this so we opted for Google Sheets documents. With the alerts for changes turned on, everyone would be up-to-date on task lists, status, supporting document location and deadlines. The version history allowed us walk back through changes, when stakeholders needed to see the progression of the projects development. Click on image to enlarge

To capture gap analysis details the following process can be followed. Identify behaviours, actions and learning styles to support the capability transfer  Determine general/process skills, skills by function/team Determine current capabilities Identify gaps between capabilities and needs  Determine means of accomplishing transfer The project lead should work in consultation with an HR Business Partner / Employee Development  when using this tool as well as during the development and implementation of comprehensive training strategies.

1. Defining the project In defining the project, the Project Sponsor identifies the: organizational objectives target audience constraints The role of project sponsor may be one or more people. The person that will use and is a champion for the training. The person that controls the budget for the development of the training. Sometimes both of these roles can be with one person. The goal here is to identify who this person or people are and ensure that the organizational objectives, target audience and constraints are clearly established and that the needs of both sponsor groups are being satisfied by the needs analysis. Establish Expectations communication schedule sign-off process for project deliverables Gain Buy-in for the Needs Analysis This can be challenging, as some project sponsors may want to jump in and start building so that they can see concrete results. Setting Organizational Objectives Good project objectives...