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WAVELENGTH – The ID Newsletter of India – January
2005
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Hello Friends,
Welcome to Wavelength, the monthly e-Newsletter for the Instructional
Design and Content Development community of India.
Born to fill a hiatus in our lives; Wavelength will reach out and
talk to the Indian Instructional Designers and Content Developers
in their own language. It will understand their pride, their work,
and their needs. With these ambitious words and a strong desire
to bring them true, I present it to you.
Wish you a wonderful, enlightened, bright, and brilliant new year!
Thanks and Warm Regards,
Shafali R. Anand
(Editor & Publisher – Wavelength)
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Table of contents
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* From the Editor’s Desk
* Resources
* Site of the Month
* Mystery of the Month
* Surge Ahead
* India...is a Stage
* Laugh-a-little
* Signing Off...
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From the Editor's Desk
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http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/default.htm
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Mystery of the Month
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The word that wears the crown of "Mystery of the Month"
is SCORM. What is it? Not many of us can truly profess to understand
all that the word signifies. The Wavelength sleuths got going on
it and they uncovered a couple of URLs that can help understand
SCORM---rrrm!
To start with read Wavelength’s article by clicking on http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/scorm.htm
This article presents SCORM and its mechanics in an easy-to-understand
manner, and will give you the necessary lift to be airborne. Then
you can visit the following site to stay in air :-)
http://www.adlnet.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=developer&pageview=viewarticle&ID=4&pcatid=15
will take you to a simple but charming article about SCORM. The
page 2 of this article lists what an Instructional Designer needs
to do if she wants to create content that is SCORM conformant.
Please explore the ADL site (http://www.adlnet.org)
for more and accurate information SCORM.
If you are done, can I say – Mystery solved, Sherlock Holmes
retires. Good Night, Watson!
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Resources
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Resources – Writing Style
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Check the following URL for "Elements of Style" by William
Strunk, Jr. If you are some one who prefers spicy to sweet, your
taste buds are in for a treat. At http://www.bartleby.com/141/
you will find his lectures that were consolidated by a student,
to make sure that Strunk’s whip of perfect style struck every
one. If you are serious about working on your writing style, this
URL will keep you occupied this month. It is my favorite haunt.
If you haven’t written much, I am sure you must be experiencing
the sinking feeling that most of us get when we are starting...when
your fingers won’t unclench, the letters on the screen would
blur, slide, and bob; and when you would hope that you could find
that one sentence that will lead to a masterpiece. Are you? Because
if you are, I have a small suggestion: Write your diary for at least
10 minutes every day. Additionally, visit http://www.school-for-champions.com/writing.htm
for some wonderful tips on how to begin writing.
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Resources – Language & Culture
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Ever felt lost in the ocean of words that look alike, sound different;
or sound alike mean different; or words that keep appearing and
disappearing on the pulsating surface of this lexico-ocean? Ever
felt lost thinking what a special word "looked" like?
If you have, you should have this URL (http://www.bartleby.com/61/)
in your favorites folder. This is a link to the new words, pronunciations,
and illustrations from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language, 4th Edition.
Also check out the World Fact book at http://www.bartleby.com/151/
. If you are developing content for a country that you know nothing
about, or know a lot but aren’t sure whether what you know
is right, this is the place you should go to. This Fact book is
extensive in every sense of the word!
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Resources – ID Concepts
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Beginning from the Basics – What is Instructional Design?
The following URL provides some crisp definitions for those who
like to pack great things in little hold-alls. http://www.coe.uh.edu/courses/cuin6373/whatisid.html
If you are one of those who like to know the mechanics of the concepts
working behind instructionally correct content, the following URL
is a collectible. http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/methods.html
A beautifully encapsulated set of dos and don’ts for online
Design. The structure of this visually refreshing site is that of
principles, practices, and examples. http://www.fgcu.edu/onlinedesign/designDev.html
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Site of the Month
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"Site of the Month" for January is http://www.brainvisa.com
Why? Well, if you want to know how this site is different from
many other eLearning sites that we’ve seen...here are some
of the reasons:
1. The blues and whites with a dash of red...the traditional eLearning
color palette is replaced with aquamarine blue, pearly cream, and
mellow beige combination that relaxes your eyes.
2. The opening crystal clear shot of the eye brings the mission
of the company in sharp focus.
3. The checkboxes for their offerings at the bottom of the home
page uses a palette that softly complements the site.
4. The windows and the panel at the right (on all pages) are all
tastefully done (though the windows don’t follow the rounded
corner theme of rest of the site, it’s color makes it blend.)
5. Flash has been seamlessly interwoven with the site to provide
non-obtrusive animations that supplement the content.
6. This site also presents a good example of using media and space
effectively to enhance content.
7. The site designers have ensured that the pages do not scroll
beyond two screen-heights.
8. The content has been distributed across sections quite logically.
If you haven’t clicked on the link yet, do it now. Check
out http://www.brainvisa.com
Let’s applaud the designers of this site.
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Surge Ahead
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For those who enjoy doing career counseling for their friends,
here are some hot vacancies of January 2004.
Check these out:
Click on the links to read more about the skills and experience
requirements for each position.
Pune:
Content developer / Content writer
http://www.brainvisa.com/opening4.html
Instructional Design - Project Lead
http://www.brainvisa.com/opening5.html
Delhi:
Senior Instructional Designer and Instructional Designer
http://www.qaiindia.com/Join_us/e-learning.htm
Bangalore:
Instructional Designer and Senior Technical Writer
http://www.gurukulonline.co.in/openings.asp
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Laugh-a-little
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What? Me Laugh? Nah...! I am an Instructional Designer!
Never mind. Here are a few laugh links.
http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/games/career/bin/ms.cgi
If you’ve ever tried squeezing a lot of meaning into a few
crisp sentences to create a list of objectives for your course,
you will surely appreciate this Mission Statement Generator... and
wish you had a similar Learning Objectives Generator!
http://www.j-walk.com/ss/jokes/writer.htm
It’s happened to all of us...and it happens not just with
Excel!
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India...is a Stage
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If someone is interested in the online certificate course in Instructional
Design conducted by Symbiosis, there is good news – They have
extended the admission deadline to Jan 10, 2005.
Check out their site at: http://www.scdl.net/html/
You can also view the course syllabus at:
http://www.scdl.net/html/aboutusccid.htm
Check out the Punjab University site too. Instructional Design
and eLearning seems to be catching on in places other than the metros.
http://www.ptuonline.com/whatiselearning.htm
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Signing Off...
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Thanks for being with Wavelength. Before we say goodbye, let’s
promise to meet again. Wavelength shall be back next month, with
more information, news, humor, and enthusiasm. See you then!
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Feedback: Write to me with your views on Wavelength at shafali@vibrantwavelength[dot]com
with "Wavelength Feedback" written in the subject.
Suggest Links or site for "Site of the Month": Publish
an article in Wavelength or suggest links– Check out http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/contribute.htm
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