Dr. Chris Show

One of the things that I think every instructional designer, every teacher, every instructor, and every trainer should do continually is to take courses. Now not any course in particular but rather always be taking at least one course, workshop, something so that we can observe others in action.

Last fall I took an InDesign course and ended up taking more notes on the instructor's style and technique than I did on InDesign. And today I just returned from a watercolor course being taught by an expert artist but this was her first time teaching anyone anything. Lots of Instructional Design related learnings in both of those experiences and in every workshop and course I've ever taken.

How often do you step out and take courses? Do you remember to take notes and to observe the course and the instruction as much (or more) than the content?

One of my favorite iPhone apps is Adobe Capture which among other things can generate lovely Swatches from the camera and from saved images. You can then save the swatches directly to your Adobe account and use them in most of the Adobe Apps. This can be a lifesaver when you know kinda the colors you want but want to make sure that the individual colors work well together. Adobe Capture. Go out and download it, you'll be glad you did.

There is a classic debate that is part of most instructional design curriculums. The great media debate between Richard Clark and Robert Kozma. Clark argued that all mediums worked so you should use the cheapest, Kozma argued that the different attributes of different mediums made them easier in different situations. I view this as two sides of the same coin. Any medium will work but some are easier in different situations so you are free to adapt to the situation and to any constraints you have while knowing there is a way to make it work. I take this approach to learning styles as well. I consider the different learning styles not as that people learn best in one way over another (and research backs me up on this) but rather that we all learn in all of the different styles so as instructional designers we are free to adapt to the situation and constraints and know that there is a way to make it work. What about you what are your thoughts?

Today I wanted to share a reminder that just because you should shoot any needed images in as high a resolution as possible doesn't mean that you should make your learners download the images at that resolution. Images for use in elearning should be optimized.

This means they should be resized to the largest they are going to be used for, you should keep a copy of the highest resolution you have, and if possible the images should be compressed by using a format such as jpg. While a PNG file can offer a transparent background and should be used when you need one a jpg file will be much smaller especially with a photograph.

These simple changes can dramatically improve loading times for those on wireless or mobile which can reduce distraction and provide a more pleasant learning experience.

When making instructional video there is the risk of just having a talking head, and yes I see the irony there, but there can be some ways to take the long video and make it a bit more dynamic and those options come from multiple cameras and mixing up some of the shots. But what can you do if you only have one camera and maybe only have time for a single take? My quick and dirty trick is to record at a much higher resolution than you are going to need and a bit wider than you would like. You can "zoom" in using your video editing software in post-production. The key though is you should only "zoom-in" to the actual resolution of the video so if you have recorded at twice the resolution of your final project then you can zoom in 2x but you don't want to do more than that our your video will look pixelated and blurry. And you don't want to overdo the effect or it will stop working and will be a distraction. Other visual elements can also help break up the video and keep your learners' eyes moving so they don't fall asleep. Even something as simple as tossing in a lower third can help keep the eyes from drifting closed.

As we move through our quick series on instructional video I wanted to share two additional tips. The first has to do with screen resolution for screen capture. I highly recommend having your screen resolution turned down which makes all of the on-screen elements larger. This can go a long way in making the video more legible, especially if your learning is consuming the video on a mobile device. which may not be the case today it may be the case in the future and making this change can help you not need to record again if the plans for the video change. The second tip is to count the seconds between shot changes the next time you're watching TV or a movie. You might just be surprised how many cuts there are in what you're watching that you haven't noticed before. Depending on what the content is you might see a cut every ten seconds or less.

Working in Camtasia today I was reminded of how fun adding every type of transition can be, same in PowerPoint and all of the tools. But it's important to consider that unless a transition specifically adds to the learning experience it should probably be skipped and instead either use a "Jump Cut" or a "Fade to Black" or Fade to White" depending on which would be the least distracting and fade most into the background.

When working on a video project it is critical to record some B-Roll. B-roll is background video that can set the scene or help provide context to the content. It can be used in a variety of ways and is usually placed "on top" of the other elements in the video. In a pinch, you can use a still photograph as B-Roll so that when the audio is discussing something the screen can display that relevant photography or other still image. B-roll is useful to provide that context, useful in transitional points, and also useful for when the main video has an issue that needs "covered up" so always remember to get some B-Roll footage especially if you are recording on-site somewhere because it's great to use, fine to not use, and horrible if you need it and forgot to record it.

Our learners will forgive a lot, especially video-wise, but learners will not forgive bad audio. If your project has bad audio your learners will disengage and shut down if they don't turn the entire project off.

Personally, I break audio into three quality categories:

Unacceptable audio is audio that has distracting elements whatever they may be the air conditioner, other background noise, too quiet, too loud, out of sync, if there is an element that is distracting to your learners the audio is unacceptable.

Acceptable Audio, this is the most common level of audio instructional designers should be aiming for, I sometimes also call this the "prosumer" level of audio. I remember the "prosumer" name from the cameras that weren't quite professional but they were "good enough" for most enthusiasts. For instructional designers, this means doing whatever you can to get the best quality audio that is realistic given your situation. A quality external microphone, a sampling of the background noise to use the noise reduction features of professional tools, calibrating your microphone so you aren't too quiet or too loud.

Professional quality audio is when you send the script to a professional voice actor. There are two warnings though, first is that the price for a quality professional voice actor is not cheap. This isn't a "Fiver Gig" this is a professional. The second warning is that if you get approval to hire a professional voice actor you will want one for every project of importance.

So the big question is what do you do to increase the quality of the audio in your projects?

Today I discuss the importance of creativity in instructional design and specifically the pillar of creativity that is Convergent and Divergent thinking. And I end with a tip on how you can boost your own creativity by exercising the Convergent/Divergent Thinking Muscle.