Many eLearning developers neglect to use a soundtrack in eLearning programs. Music is used in film and television to set the mood, convey emotions, and provide transition cues yet many avoid using music in eLearning because of a perceived cost, lack of musical skills, possible copyright issues, or simply no recording space. Fortunately there are many tools and sources available for us to quickly build music tracks that can connect emotionally and enhance the learning.

In this session you will learn about building loop-based music and “playing” virtual instruments to enhance the program’s soundtrack through creating background tracks and transitional music. You will see a demonstration of Apple’s Garageband and Cockos Reaper digital audio workstations as the basics of loop-based music production. Additionally we will discuss available free or low-cost Windows applications.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to place loops to build a music track
• How to create music with virtual instruments
• How to output your music mix
• Where to get inspiration, free loops, and resources

Audience:
Novice designers and developers who have basic understanding of computer-based audio production and audio file formats.

Technology discussed in this session:
Apple’s Garageband and the cross-platform Cockos Reaper on a Macbook Pro. Soundation.com and EarSketch, two web-based DAW solutions will also be demonstrated.

“Don’t limit yourself” is terrible advice, yet getting into a creative rhythm is not always easy. When the pressure is mounting, often we can find ourselves blocked in our effort to present a new and fresh idea for the project we’re working on. How can you stay in the flow and find the next great idea for your work?

In this session, you will learn how you can use constraints to free your creativity, rather than limit it. You will learn the importance of not saying “no” to ideas, but rather embrace them and try to use them as the new parameters for your creative work. You will find ways to build off of ideas rather than shutting them down and collect various tips you can use to jump-start your creative process.

In this session, you will learn:

• To use constraints to free your creativity
• How to get out of a “creative slump”
• Techniques for kick-starting your creative process
• To never say “no” and go with the flow (the rules of improv)

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

In early 2014 Jane Bozarth’s husband was diagnosed with a large tumor perched atop his brain stem like a golf ball on a tee. The story of his surgery and recovery became the most popular piece she’s ever published, “Performance Matters,” which appeared in The eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions Magazine. Join Jane and Jeannette Campos as they explore the story, its associated observations, and issues learned throughout that are relevant to L&D.

In this session you will learn from practical examples the importance of human-centered design and systems design, how to address performance at the moments of learning need, and the important ties between learning, practice, and performance. The best L&D practitioners recognize that the performer is an actor in a system and the future L&D practitioner must design beyond the past limitations of the standalone course.

In this session, you will learn:

• The significance of human-centered design for both learning and performance
• How thoughtful intentional design considers the interaction of all elements in a systems (putting the S back in ISD)
• To consider the moment of learning need(s) when designing for learning and extended performance support
• Why designing beyond a discrete learning event will be a critical skill for L&D practitioners

Audience:
Designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

Learner engagement can be elusive. It is difficult to grab and hold a learner’s attention with so many smartphone distractions at their desk or at their fingertips. But engagement is possible through specific techniques that command attention and engage the learner.

In this session you will learn how to engage learners and how to present content using gamification techniques such as storytelling, feedback, and competition. During this session you will simultaneously learn about engagement techniques and experience them. These techniques will help you to create more engaging instruction within your own organizations or for your clients. You’ll be able to apply these simple techniques to your learning design almost immediately.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to apply storytelling to engage learners
• Three techniques for eliciting audience responses and summarizing content during a session (webinar or classroom)
• How you can expand gamification beyond points, badges, and leaderboards
• How to create an immersive learning experience with simple tools

Audience:
Intermediate designers.

Technology discussed in this session:
PollEverywhere, PowerPoint.

Participant technology requirements:
N/A

Instructional designers and eLearning developers are not typically trained in how to design a visual experience for their learners, yet a cluttered presentation of information interferes with learner cognition and retention. Often, the effort to transform unappealing, text-heavy content can seem overwhelming, but there are simple approaches that you can master to create a visually appealing experience.

This session offers you techniques that can drastically transform even the most boring content into a visual presentation that improves cognition and retention. You will learn how to simplify your content for maximum impact and structure it with visual cues. See how to turn your initial text into engaging visuals that help your learners retain what is important. You will review real-life examples that demonstrate how these simple techniques create raving fans and effectively enhance your content.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to simplify your content for maximum impact
• How to structure your content with simple visual cues
• How to turn text into visuals
• How to use imagery to effectively enhance your content

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

As trainers, we work hard to create great training. As a result, we are disappointed when our employees fail to learn or don’t transfer learning back to their workplace. We may be tempted to blame our students, but the truth is that we often fail because we don’t understand the mind of the learner. As a result, we build training modules that are not consistent with the brain’s natural means of acquisition. Teaching should be more effective, and it can be more effective once we understand how the learner’s mind operates.

In this session, you will learn seven essential principles that will help you understand how the brain controls learning and memory. Through the presented demonstrations, you will gain an exciting new understanding of the mind, which you can immediately apply to create eLearning that will effectively engage the brain and maximize learning and recall. Come prepared to have fun ... and learn.

In this session, you will learn:

• To design training and change management solutions that are compatible with the brain’s natural way of learning
• To create social learning communities that are based on psychological principles of observational learning
• To use authoring tools more effectively by understanding how the brain encodes metaphor and emotion
• To develop incentive systems that reinforce desired behaviors and that are based on established principles of conditioning.

Audience:
Designers, developers, senior developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

Writing is an underdiscussed aspect of instructional design. In fact, many people get into the field without realizing that writing is a significant part of a learning designer’s job. It is difficult to do it well. Learning designers may be required to write in at least ten different forms that involve unique styles. Yet there is no single source of instruction for writing in all of these styles.

In this session, you will gain a deeper awareness of the different writing styles learning designers need to produce on the job. You will learn the different formats and techniques one can use to make each style effective. During the session, you will be able to compare examples of successful and less successful writing. You will leave this session being able to differentiate between the requirements and styles of writing microcopy, video scripts, test questions, and expositions, which is a basic skill that designers need to have.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to meet the needs of varied writing requirements used in instructional design
• How to inject creativity into the driest of topics
• How to use journalistic techniques in your writing
• How to use marketing techniques in your writing

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers and project managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

It’s critical that learners come away with new knowledge and information from eLearning lessons, but frequently they don’t. Learners sometimes find the material or presentation so foreign that even high-quality information just doesn’t stay with them. Integrating mutually shared pop culture and historical experiences into eLearning is one approach to making lessons both entertaining and lasting while creating engaging eLearning courses.

In this session you will learn some new ways of designing and developing your eLearning by looking at it in the historical perspective. You’ll see demonstrations of how history and the lessons learned from past history can make our training more memorable. You’ll also learn through several instances where the confluence of learning, both inside and outside the classroom, can influence retention of the training you present to learners.

In this session, you will learn:

• How almost any subject is appropriate for this adaptive technique
• How to think about subjects from a different perspective
• How to make training more memorable through the use of historical examples
• How learning inside and outside the classroom can impact retention

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

There’s been a large amount of research in recent years exploring the value music has on the brain and learning. We’ve all experienced it in some way in our lives, be it from listening to music while learning or studying, learning something from a catchy song, or by learning to play an instrument.

In this session you will explore the many relationships between music and learning. You will examine and discuss how people learn to play an instrument—there will even be ukuleles available for some to participate hands-on—and what this might mean to learning in general. Using the introductory ukulele lesson as a framework, this fun session will help you explore the many ways that music impacts and enhances learning. (Ukuleles made available during this session will be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Nevada UMC after the conference.)

In this session, you will learn:

• How music enhances learning
• How people learn to play an instrument, and what that means to learning
• How music might enhance your practices
• How to play a ukulele!

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

Chances are you didn’t dream of becoming of an eLearning designer when you grew up, did you? Most of the instructional designers in the eLearning business arrived here by accident. So now that you’re here and doing this work, how can you become a more intentional practitioner?

In this session you will learn four key areas to focus on in order to become a well-rounded eLearning designer. You will also discover the ways that you can take your practice to the next level by clearly identifying and honing your instructional designer sweet spot. Finally, this session will provide you with some quick tips for better eLearning design that you can immediately apply to your current and upcoming projects.

In this session, you will:

• Explore the four slices of the eLearning pie to gain a better understanding of the big picture that is our industry
• Identify your own sweet spot as an instructional designer
• Identify areas where you could dig deeper to advance your practice
• To apply simple strategies to your current projects for better eLearning outcomes and more engaging designs

Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

Learning and development professionals are under pressure to produce real results. Many times the traditional methods of instructional design and content development are not getting the job done. We have to think differently on how to design, develop, and leverage technology to create learning experiences that actually impact performance and get the results that matter.

In this session you will learn the importance of building experiences in the form of online scenarios, simulations, and real-world on-the-job tasks. You’ll leave understanding better how to apply research-based guidelines to design, structure, and sequence experiences into optimized learning paths. You’ll see to how to leverage technology, especially mobile and the Experience API (formerly Tin Can) to deliver, capture, and track learning experiences. Finally, in this session you’ll see examples of how learning-experience designers are transforming how people learn professional, technical, sales, and leadership skills.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to capture the experiences of experts
• How to design effective learning experiences
• How to sequence learning experiences into an optimized learning path
• How to use mobile and the Experience API to capture and track real-world experience

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
The Experience API (xAPI) and mobile technology.

Games are a hot topic in the learning industry right now. At the same time, few people truly understand the differences between games and gamification or their applications to learning. Learning professionals interested in gaming need to understand how games work and how technology can be used to bring games to life.

In this panel discussion you will explore how games have been used in learning in the past, how they are being used today, and the opportunities that exist for games and learning in the future. You will hear examples from industry experts who have applied games in their own work and examine what works and what doesn’t when it comes to games and learning. You will leave this session with context that will help you better execute your own games-based learning programs.

In this session, you will learn:

• How games have been used in learning programs in the past
• How games are being used today
• What works for games and learning and what doesn’t
• Tips for applying game-based learning
• What the opportunities for games-based learning are today and in the future

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Games.

Developing an online course can be an overwhelming process. Oftentimes it can be difficult to know where to start and what resources are available. In addition to timelines, tools, and scope, you need to be able to manage the flow of information and the critical relationships with other designers, developers, and subject matter experts (SMEs).

In this session you will be provided a toolbox of guides, forms, and templates that can be used by instructional designers, faculty, and SMEs to aid in the online course development process. You will also learn approaches to making the design, development, and project management of online courses more streamlined, less stressful, and easier to manage through the principles of backward design and by building stronger relationships with SMEs.

In this session, you will learn:

• Tips for productive designer/SME relationships
• How to utilize backward design
• How to monitor and track the progress of your online course design and development
• How to guide faculty members and SMEs in writing effective learning objectives
• How to facilitate a productive initial course planning meeting

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, and project managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
The ID Toolbox in a fully accessible format in Microsoft Office suite and/or Adobe PDF.

Due to distance and lack of resources, in-person classroom sessions were not possible for every client who needed to learn Altair Engineering’s software. Its clients did not always want to wait for scheduled classes, so Altair needed to deliver content to them to their desktops in a quick and effective manner at their time of need, not when and where the training schedule dictated. 

As companies reduce travel budgets more and more, companies are looking to online delivery of training material. With that change, instructional designers need to transition instructor-led material into functional eLearning modules. In this case study session, you will learn the successes and failures Altair Engineering encountered as an organization in making the transition to eLearning. You’ll learn how it used content from its instructor-led classes as the basis for its eLearning modules and how it made the content more interactive for the learners. You’ll also learn about the combination of tools they used to create and deploy the learning modules. 

In this session, you will learn:

• How to transition from instructor-led training to eLearning
• Successful actions taken to make the transition
• How to plan and build interactions during content conversion
• Common pitfalls and ways to avoid them 

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, and managers. 

Technology discussed in this session:
HTML, Adobe eLearning Suite.

We use eLearning and other technology platforms because they are cost effective, easily accessible, provide a consistent learner experience, and increase our geographical reach. Unfortunately, it is quite easy to lose the human connection that is so critical to the engagement of employees and learners.

In this case study session, you will learn about the design and development of leadership and professional development programs at the Spectrum Health University and get several tips and tricks to keep your content personable. You'll also discover how the organization stays “high touch” with participants through its roles, social collaborative platform, and learning experiences—a collection of instructor-led classes, eLearning modules, and online discussions. You will leave this session with insight into how to engage employees through a personal approach and take back some practical measures that can easily be incorporated in your organization.

In this session, you will learn:

• How dedicating a role focused on relationships can impact participant engagement
• How to leverage available technologies to help you be more personable
• Why you should establish a brand for your department
• The importance of utilizing your own people (employees) as faculty and/or facilitators

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Social collaborative platform (Jive), eLearning development tools (Adobe Creative Suite, Lectora, Articulate Storyline), iPads, GPS units, cameras.

Most designers and developers strive for continuous improvement in the quality and effectiveness of eLearning programs. However, measuring the success and failure of eLearning is often an afterthought. Worse, the metrics used to measure effectiveness send false messages that lead a person to think the eLearning is more effective than it actually is. This is unfortunate because eLearning offers more measurement options than traditional classroom training.

In this session you will learn what learning science reveals about measuring the learning results inherent in eLearning. You will discover common mistakes to avoid and methods for improving your eLearning results. By utilizing these research-inspired methods, you will be able to create cycles of continuous improvement.

In this session, you will learn:

• What research-based findings mean for measurement design
• The three most common biases in measuring learning
• Unique opportunities for eLearning measurement
• What learning science reveals about measurement

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

eLearning designers are often faced with complex training topics that are difficult to deliver concisely. The results are lengthy courses that are counter to the needs of today’s learners, who need to be extremely efficient with their time. To deliver learning to this audience means being very concise in both content and course design, while still having impact and not sacrificing instructional integrity.

In this session you will learn a practical strategy for keeping learning concise while remaining impactful, engaging and retaining its intent. You will engage realistic examples of how measures have been effectively implemented during four stages of the instructional design process: 1. Identify appropriate learning objectives and exclude the extraneous objectives. 2. Manage stakeholder, subject matter expert (SME), and design team expectations. 3. Prioritize content into levels of must know, good to know, and nice to know. 4. Streamline the content, language, and course interface.

In this session, you will learn:

• A design process that ensures concise but effective eLearning
• How to get SMEs and your team on board with creating concise courses
• How to efficiently prioritize and manage learning content
• How to streamline the content, language, and course interface
• How to use learning assets to succinctly deliver content (e.g., interactions, games, visuals, analogies, infographics, etc.)

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

If you work in L&D, chances are you use design assets (like photos, drawings, icons, and fonts) all the time. And if you don’t have a graphic design background, chances are you’re paying someone else to make these design assets for you. Professional designers and stock photos are fantastic resources, and ones I’d never want to get rid of, but sometimes what you need is a DIY solution that’s fast, free, or even better: both.

In this session you’ll learn about some amazing tools that will give a design boost to the skills of even the least experienced designer. Want to know what amazing drawing tool you already have on your computer? What app can magically correct your messy and scribbly drawing lines? Always wondered how some people can take amazing photos on their smart phones, but yours always look a little off? Ever wanted to create your own font in just a few minutes? This session will help you learn more about the assets you can actually create yourself, something many non-designers assume they just don’t have the ability to do.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to create your own basic drawings and icons
• How to use a few simple tips for improving the quality of your photographs
• How to leverage easy apps and software to create quick graphics
• How to create your own font

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers and developers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Paper by FiftyThree, Camera+, iFontMaker, and Microsoft PowerPoint.

It’s hard enough to get learners to engage with the content of your eLearning course. The issue is compounded even further when learners can’t figure out how to use the course in the first place. All too often, new eLearning designers put their focus solely into designing the learning content, while at the same time ignoring the interface it’s encapsulated in. This leads to confusion on the part of the learner and disrupts the learning process.

In this session, you will explore five simple rules for designing an eLearning user interface that promotes engagement, interaction, and learning. Using real-life examples, you will explore demonstrations of simple interface changes that removed visual distraction and redundancy. eLearning designers looking to improve their courses by removing user interface distraction and promoting intuitive action by the learner will learn five rules for designing effective user interfaces.

In this session, you will learn:

• How bad user interface decisions distract from the learning process
• Five rules for designing effective eLearning user interfaces
• How to visually distinguish interactive elements from your course content
• How to promote intuitive action by the user through visual cues

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, and project managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
Articulate Storyline, Articulate Studio.

A number of myths persist about people’s allegedly ever-shortening attention spans—but what does the science say? Neuroscience, behavioral economics, and consumer psychology all offer insights into how we manage and allocate attention. Additionally, our ability to manage attention and focus seems to be related to our abilities to allocate willpower and influence how we make decisions.

In this session you will learn what the current science says about how attention, willpower, and decision-making interact, and how that influences the design of eLearning environments. Having a deeper understanding of this topic will help you create more engaging and effective learning solutions.

In this session, you will learn:

• How cognitive load and glucose usage influence willpower
• How we allocate and manage attention
• How to engage learners’ attention and manage distraction
• How to use the principles of willpower, attention, and decision-making to create better eLearning

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

There’s been a large amount of research in recent years exploring the value music has on the brain and learning. We’ve all experienced it in some way in our lives, be it from listening to music while learning or studying, learning something from a catchy song, or by learning to play an instrument.

In this session you will explore the many relationships between music and learning. You will examine and discuss how people learn to play an instrument—there will even be ukuleles available for some to participate hands-on—and what this might mean to learning in general. Using the introductory ukulele lesson as a framework, this fun session will help you explore the many ways that music impacts and enhances learning. (Ukuleles made available during this session will be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Nevada UMC after the conference.)

In this session, you will learn:

• How music enhances learning
• How people learn to play an instrument, and what that means to learning
• How music might enhance your practices
• How to play a ukulele!

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

Have you ever wondered whether there are special tactics for enhancing memory recall that psychologists are keeping locked away in their ivory towers? Well, such tactics exist! Not only do they exist, but many best practices and techniques can be extrapolated from research, and are entirely accessible to eLearning developers to generate high levels of memory retention.

In this session, we will take a tour through several key concepts in empirically based cognitive and social psychology that relate directly to eLearning on a nuts-and-bolts level. We’ll discuss the role of recall opportunities, knowledge organization, and deep thinking in memory retention, as well as the roles of social motivation and immersive experiential learning in behavior change. You will learn about a few techniques and tools available today that are being designed around enhanced retention and behavior change messaging.

In this session, you will learn:

• Factors in memory retention, including depth of processing, recall frequency, organization, and social motivation
• New strategies for richer presentation and interaction as informed by unifying cognitive theories
• How to focus on a behavior change end goal in all training
• How to set up a social environment within eLearning that encourages emotional engagement and retention

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

There’s no doubt that employees of the 21^st century are different. The way they engage in workplace tasks is different. The way they consume content is different. Their brains themselves are different. How do you create a more effective learning solution for people whose brains have been rewired by our quick-change, bite-sized content world? Easy. You simply rewire the whole learning experience.

In this session, you will learn exactly what micro-learning is. You see how micro-learning can affect not only on-the-job performance, but also the organization’s culture. You will learn how micro-learning has benefits for both learners (workers) and the learning professionals supporting organizational performance. Finally, you will gain a better understanding of why companies need to start investing now to ensure they are prepared to empower and retain the new generation and get the most out of their teams.

In this session, you will learn:

• Why micro-learning is better for both learners and trainers
• How micro-learning is affecting both our culture and performance
• How micro-learning engages millennials
• How micro-learning builds a culture of learning

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

Learning professionals today are under a great deal of pressure. It becomes easy to get formulaic and forget two important things: our learners’ needs and our own joy, growth, and fulfillment. How can we break out of the mold, stay connected with our audiences, and remain excited about our profession? And what are some techniques we can use to contribute to a learning culture, even if the rest of the organization isn’t quite there yet?

In this session, you will learn that the best way to survive (and thrive) as learning professionals is by planning for a zombie apocalypse! You will review great L&D lessons learned by Enzo Silva as a recurring background artist on The Walking Dead. You will look at zombie theory and how it came to life via real-world examples from successful (and some less successful) L&D initiatives at SAP. You will learn novel approaches to using humor while teaching serious lessons about being more creative, effective, and learner-centric.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to tap into your creativity by looking outside the world of L&D
• To identify the right learning solution for the right situation
• Techniques for adapting content to different modalities
• What new approaches can make your team more collaborative and effective
• What baking cookies has to do with zombies and L&D

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A

Implementing a great user experience is critical for designing the optimal learning experience and requires the content developer to think from the perspective of the learner. There is much research on user experience (UX) available and bad practices still in circulation. Identifying what works and what doesn’t is a task worth undertaking.

In this session, you will learn basic UX best practices that can be implemented in your organization to enhance the learner experience and aid learner retention. You will see examples of good and bad learning experiences so that eLearning content developers can see useful design patterns and interactive elements that can aid learning retention and make your eLearning courses an enjoyable experience. Finally, we will discuss how the proliferation of mobile devices affects the learning experience.

In this session, you will learn:

• Important design patterns that aid in learning retention
• Why user-centered design is important for eLearning
• How the proliferation of mobile devices affects learning experiences
• How to design an awesome user experience

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
User-centered design, UX, HTML5, responsive design.

The holy grail of all learning is retention (and subsequent behavior change). Relevance drives retention. And we have no faster path to relevance than through effective stories. Stories engage us and trigger our imagination to take us places. We’ve all read about the importance of storytelling, we’ve listened to webcasts, maybe we’ve even bought a book or two about effective storytelling. Storytelling is a major buzzword today, but how can we effectively use storytelling in learning solutions?

In this session you will explore the basic framework of story, but we won’t stop there. We will discuss story arcs and the ways of creating your learning journey around a story—not just sharing a story. You will learn how to use story inside of learning opportunities. Can our learning solutions become a story or do they just use stories? Learn how story can improve learning of dry subjects such as ethics or business conduct, and finally, identify when a storytelling approach is most and least appropriate to use.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to distinguish between your learning containing a story and being crafted around a story
• The elements of a story that make it come alive
• The structures (story arcs) we can use to craft a story
• Practical resources you can use to help you transform your learning from containing a story to revolving around a story

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers and managers.

Do you spend more of your time copying and pasting from one content format to another than you do creating new instructional materials? Do you have to deliver the same information for more than one learning deliverable? If you answered yes to either of those questions, then it’s time to reclaim your time and use a single source for your content.

This session will introduce you to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) as the single source for your learning content. You’ll learn how to separate the content creation and maintenance from its delivery using a single XML source to create and update the content. You will discover a strategy that can enable you to work more efficiently, develop consistent content, and improve quality all while supporting content delivery using the existing delivery methods, learning-management systems, printed materials, slides, web sites, and mobile apps.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to implement your instructional design with structured content
• How to create and manage content in easily-updated chunks or topics
• The process to produce deliverables from XML in multiple formats, including slides
• How to update the content in one place in the source and deliver it via multiple methods
• The basic strategy to align content to learning objectives

Audience:
Intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
XML, XML editors, DITA, and DITA Open Toolkit.

During design and development, SMEs and other stakeholders sometimes suggest ideas or practices that are antithetical to good instructional design. For example, a stakeholder believes it’s best to film a daylong stand-up training session and deliver it as one video. An SME might write learning material on a complex topic without breaking concepts down for beginners. In these cases, it is helpful for the designer to be able to present research findings to help the stakeholders understand why you should design learning solutions differently.

In this session you will learn about current eLearning research regarding multimedia, visual design and usability, and assessment. You will be able to identify how and where to best cite research with an SME, and will be able to apply findings to their design and development process. Finally, you will leave this session with a list of current research findings in three areas: multimedia, visual design and usability, and assessment.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to cite research in three areas: multimedia, visual design and usability, and assessment
• How to successfully use research to make data-driven decisions for design and development
• Where to find sources of eLearning research
• How to conduct a research-based discussion with your SMEs

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, developers, project managers, and managers.

Technology discussed in this session:
N/A