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WAVELENGTH – The ID Newsletter of India – January 2008
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Dear friends,

Welcome to this edition of Wavelength.

It's cold, it's hot, it's freezing! It's the unpredictable
weather! I don't understand it. You know how closely I've
been trying to observe its vagaries; and how hard I've been
trying to catalog its actions! You've seen me struggling
to keep pace with its sudden changes. I recently heard that
mercury in the Mumbai thermometers has slid down to 10 degrees
and that Mumbaiites are reassessing their wardrobes.

This introduction seems very apt for the January 2008
Wavelength newsletter! We too bring you the unexpected this
month.

Your queries made us move online with our ID courses. Your
queries have now helped us take another big step. They have
motivated us to take our first measured step towards offering
our content development expertise to other organizations. I
know that you've heard the grapevine; now it comes directly
from Wavelength - we are now offering our eLearning content
development expertise to organizations that believe in
training excellence for their employees.

We shall be connecting with organizations that we admire and
would like to work with. Organizations that are currently not
on our radar, but that wish to tap Wavelength's content design
and development expertise for their employees, are welcome
to contact us. I've never been appreciated for political
correctness, so in a very straightforward manner, I would like
to state that relationships are established through the
appreciation of each other's values. Our primary value is an
unequivocal - Love your Audience! So if you love your learners,
connect with us.

Wavelength's Mystery of the Month article for January 2008,
"Artistic vs. Applied Creation" is also an unpredictable one. It
differentiates the artistic creation from the applied creation,
and it builds a case for the supremacy of applied creation in
our kind of work.

About Wavelength's Courses and Training Programs:

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Instructional Design for Senior Professionals (IDSP Online)
Certificate Course - Session 3 (March 2008 - April 2008)
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The IDSP Online's second session is in full swing. The third session
shall begin on March 01, 2008. If you have at least four years
of content development/training experience and you wish to
connect with your content development team on their wavelength,
enroll for the IDSP Online course.

If you want to join the next session for IDSP Online,
write to us at: idsponline [at] vibrantwavelength [dot] com.
Visit the IDSP Online page at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idsp_online.htm

Also read the views of the IDSP Online first session participants at:
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trg_participantviews.htm#idsponlineviews

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Instructional Design & Content Writing Certificate (IDCWC Online)
Certificate Course - Session 8 (April 2008 - June 2008)
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Registrations for the 8th session of IDCWC Online beginning on
April 01, 2008, are now on. If you've heard of the wonders of
instructional design and if you want to experience them first-hand,
write to us at idcwconline [at] vibrantwavelength [dot] com

Please visit the IDCWC Online page at:
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_online.htm

The IDCWC contact course shall begin its next session on
February 17, 2008; while the ASDC (ActionScript Developer Certificate)
contact course will begin its session on February 24, 2007. As the
classes for these courses are held at Wavelength, Noida, only on
Sundays. If you want to enroll for either of these courses call us
at 9810324284/0120-4315505.

In the last three years, we've tried to establish Wavelength as a
name that you can trust for instructional design and eLearning
quality. The numerous queries that we receive for our courses and
services, and the wonderful relationships that we establish with
our participants, prove that we are moving in the right direction.
Thanks for your continued support and trust.

Thanks and Regards,
Shafali R. Anand.

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Table of contents
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From the Editor's Desk
Mystery of the Month
ID Section
Technology Section
Media Section
Site of the Month
Views
Laugh-a-little
Innoken Games
Signing Off...

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Events Calendar
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Online Courses:
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1. The 8th session of IDCWC Online (Instructional Design &
Content Writing Certificate Online) course begins on
April 01, 2008. Read details at:
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_online.htm
Please send us your queries at idcwconline [at] vibrantwavelength [dot] com

2. The 3rd session of IDSP Online (Instructional Design
for Senior Professionals Certificate Online) course, begins
on January 01, 2008. Read details at:
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idsp_online.htm
Please send us your inquiries at idsponline [at] vibrantwavelength [dot] com

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Contact Courses:
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1. Classes for the Instructional Design & Content Writing
Certificate (IDCWC Contact) course begin on February 17, 2008.
Registrations are on for this group. Read details at
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_details.htm

2. Classes for the next Flash ActionScript 2.0 Developer
Certificate (ASDC) course group begin on February 24, 2008.
Registrations are on for this group. Read details at
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/actionscript_certificate.htm

3. Classes for the ActionScript 2.0 with Object-Oriented
Programming (AS2OOP) course begin on February 23, 2008.
Registrations are open for this course group. Click on
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/actionscript2_oop_details.htm

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From the Editor's Desk
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http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/editorial.htm

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Mystery of the Month
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Have you experienced the writer's block? The writer's block
is the cognitive blank that all writers experience some
time or the other. The observable symptoms of this malady
are a dazed look, mild headaches and bouts of depression,
and also cigarette butts or empty coffee cups! The disease
is fatal for the unborn idea, which dies unexpressed.

The Wavelength article, "Artistic vs. Applied Creative Action,"
discusses the possibility of eliminating this malady. This,
of course, isn't always possible for artistic creative
action. However, as we, the instructional designers deal
with applied creative action, we can use a simple process
to reduce the possibility of experiencing the writer's block.
Click http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/creative_action.htm to
read this article.

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ID Section
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ID Concepts
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Writing instructional objectives...
Is it an art, a science, or a skill that can be learned?
I guess it is a skill, which keeps vacillating between being
an art and a science. What matters most is - how we perfect
it and for what purpose. Click http://www2.gsu.edu/~mstmbs/CrsTools/Magerobj.html
to learn how to do what you know can always be done better!
(The last line is a non-example of clear and precise writing,
which is a pre-requisite skill for writing good objectives!)

Another link that you may find useful is
http://www.naacls.org/docs/announcement/writing-objectives.pdf

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Language & Culture
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The Social Learning Theory explores learning as a social
behavior. It states that people learn from one another. One
of the principles of this learning theory proposed by
Albert Bandura states that people learn by receiving
environmental feedback on their actions. Thus, the theory
of social learning supports the operant conditioning theory.

On the other hand, the social learning theory also states
that learning may happen without a change in behavior
(ie. purely in the form of a cognitive phenomenon.) To learn
more about the social learning theory, click
http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~lynda_abbott/Social.html to
read the concept and implications of the social
learning theory.

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Writing Style
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A quick primer on writing style is available at:
http://www.answers.com/topic/writing-style-1
Are you aware of the theories of good style? Well, they
are: conciseness, simplicity, active voice and so on.
While you are at this page, check out the theories of
good style.

"Basic Prose Style and Mechanics" by Craig Waddell is an
excellent 22-page guide available at:
http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cwaddell/Basic_Prose_Style.html

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Technology Section
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Learning Content Management Technologies
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If you've missed the 1-Day SCORM workshop that Wavelength
conducted last year; here's a link that can help you with
a swift overview of SCORM for eLearning instructional
designers. "Emerging Technologies Learning Objects: Scorn or SCORM?"
is a slightly old but interesting article, which can help
you become comfortable with SCORM at a conceptual level.
Click http://llt.msu.edu/vol8num2/emerging/default.html to read it.

The article begins with a short history of SCORM, then goes
on to describe the issues in SCORM (including those related
with sequencing of content, which is taken care of in
SCORM 1.3). This page also provides a list of resources. Some
of these links may not work, but they are worth a try.

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Media Section
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Please click the following link to view the December 2007
issue of the Media Newsletter.
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/media_nletter_hpny08_dec07.htm

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Site of the Month
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The site of the month in January 2008 is
http://www.madeinmtl.com/main.php?langval=2

Why?!

Click the link to find out. Some of my reasons for
including this site here are given below.

1. The pre-loader...yes, it is the pre-loader. The pre-loader is
a combo-box. Don't try to select any thing...it is just an
animation that keeps you busy until the site loads. While the
loading continues, check the top right corner of the page. Do
you see the torn edge? Or is there something on your screen?

2. When the site loads, it loads gradually. In fact, you can
see it building up. The top menu, followed by the search bars
and by a working version of the combo-boxes. You also see
various sections, such as News, What's up in the City,
Exploration menu, a quick weather update, and so on.

3. A beautiful, unobtrusive snow-blue with a soft texture and
some lovely patterns; forms the base of this site. The menus
too follow the same soft theme. Let us begin our exploration
by clicking Explorer from the top menu.

4. The default content relates to men's shirts, and the page
displays a menu made of diagonal buttons at the left. Below
this menu you can see the map of Montreal. If you want to
search for a special store, you can use the search given at
the top left. If the search is found, the map refreshes to
show you the location of the searched place. This site is
truly immersive. There is so much information, and it is so
thoughtfully designed!

5. The map is an excellent use of Yahoo maps.

6. Well, your selected store is then shown in the window at
the left. You now have an option to check the interiors of
the store either in panoramic view or slideshow view. You
can also include a particular store in your list of favorites,
but for that you will need a membership.

7. Now let us explore the set of combo-boxes and see how they
function. These intelligent combo-boxes populate according to
your first selection. For example, if you select, "I want to learn"
in the first combo-box, the second populates with what you can
learn, and the third with further qualifiers. The design of this
site is truly amazing!

8. After you've made your selection, press the Go button and
see the whole screen change in response to your action.

I am confident that you can manage on your own now :-) Enjoy
this wonderfully immersive learning trip. All the best!

What?!
You've haven't clicked the link yet?
Well, here it is once again.
http://www.madeinmtl.com/main.php?langval=2

Enjoy!

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Views
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***NEW!!!***
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1. IDCWC Online Course Participants' Views:
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Click http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trg_participants_views.htm#idcwconlineviews
to read what the course participants feel about the
Instructional Design ONLINE course (IDCWC Online) and Wavelength.

2. IDCWC (Contact) Participants' Views:
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Click http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trg_participants_views.htm#idcwcviews
to read what the IDCWC Contact program participants feel
about the Instructional Design course (IDCWC) and Wavelength.

3. ActionScript Course Participants' Views:
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Click http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trg_participants_views.htm#asdcviews
to read what the ActionScript Course participants feel
about the ActionScript course (ASDC) and Wavelength.

4. Reader's Views:
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Click http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/views.htm to read
what readers feel about Wavelength.

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Laugh-a-Little
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When did you laugh last?
Last month?!
Oh, so you laughed when you visited one of the URLs given
in Wavelength's Laugh-a-Little section!
Here are some more links to help you de-stress.

Do you know that Readers Digest and Writers Cramp? No?
Even the king of the jungle knows.
Click http://www.worldwidefreelance.com/writing-jokes.htm

Also check http://www19.homepage.villanova.edu/karyn.hollis/prof_academic/
Courses/common_files/jokes_about_writing.htm

If you are a philanthropic instructional designer, you
may want to write humor and make others laugh.
The following links should help.

Original humor writing is difficult. Dave Barry says just that
in "Dave Barry on Humor" at
http://www.learner.org/catalog/extras/interviews/dbarry/db02.html

Some more serious reading on humor is available at:
http://www.melgilden.com/Sampletext/EssaKids.html

Laugh away all your worries!

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Innoken Online Games
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http://www.innoken.com/games

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Signing Off...
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I wish you the very best of everything in life. May the New Year bring
you prosperity, health, and happiness!

Shafali

Shafali R. Anand
Editor & Publisher, Wavelength the ID Newsletter
Director, Wavelength eLearning Consulting and Training Pvt. Ltd.
shafali [at] vibrantwavelength [dot] com
Wavelength, Link House, 2nd Floor,
C-4, Sector 10, Noida-201301, India.
Ph: 9810324284 / 9810412297 / (0120)4315505
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com

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Feedback: Write to me with your views on Wavelength at shafali [at] 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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