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WAVELENGTH – The ID Newsletter of India – June 2007
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Hello Friends,

Welcome to this issue of Wavelength.

June is about to end. It's been a hot month and I sincerely
hope that the prophecy of the weather department comes true.
According to them, monsoons are expected to arrive in Delhi
on July 2nd. Last week when we were about to collapse with
the heat touching 44 degrees, it rained. It rained for
3-4 days, the humidity levels went up, the heat transformed
from scorching to stifling; yet, monsoons haven't begun, so
says the weather department...and we agree. They are weather
SMEs while we are not!

Wavelength's article for this month, "A Journey into the
Trainer's Heart!", strives to review some not so apparent
reasons for a trainee's cognitive absence from a training
program. Many of us who have stood in front of a variegated
collection of audience, know how difficult it is to train
the trainees who've stepped into the program with a
pre-decided mindset.

Coming back to this issue. I know it should've reached you
sooner. I promise that the next shall reach you much earlier
than the end of the next month. In the meantime, let me begin
by sharing information that may interest you more than this
discourse.

The 5-Day workshops in July:
-----------------------------------------

Wavelength is organizing a 5-Day Instructional Design and
Content Writing Workshop, which shall be held at Wavelength
from July 16 to July 20, 2007.

Oracle (Bangalore) and CSC have already confirmed their
participation for this workshop. If you are interested in
attending this workshop and wish to speak to your Head of the
Department for a sponsorship (you are also welcome to register
as an individual,) you will find the required details at:
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/instructionalDesign_trgworkshop.htm.

Details of the 5-Day ActionScript 2.0 (with OOP module) Training
Workshop, which is being held at Wavelength from July 30 to
August 3, 2007, are available at:
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/AS2withOOPModule_trgworkshop_jul07.htm

These workshops would cover the content outlines of the IDCWC
course and the ASDC course respectively. The ActionScript
Workshop will add to the ASDC course content and will also take
the participants through a special module on
Object-Oriented Programming.

You are welcome to write to us for registration information at
connect[at]vibrantwavelength[dot]com

The 1-Day workshops in August:
---------------------------------------------

The 1-Day workshops on Instructional Storytelling and SCORM
successfully concluded on June 16 and June 23, respectively.
These workshops generated a lot of interest in the eLearning and
training industry and organizations such as Airtel, Keane Worldzen,
Jaiprakash Industries, Sify eLearning, Tarang Software
Technologies, and ST Microelectronics sponsored their participants
for them. Heartened by the response Wavelength is organizing
these one-day workshops once again.

If you wish to attend these workshops or would like to sponsor
your participants for them, the following links will provide the
details. You are also welcome to write to our Trainings
Coordinator at connect[at]vibrantwavelength[dot]com

A. Instructional Storytelling for Trainers and Content Developers
(August 18th, 2007 - Saturday.)
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/instructionalstorytelling_training_aug07.htm

B. SCORM Training Workshop
(August 25th, 2007 - Saturday.)
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/scorm_training_aug07.htm

The Instructional Design & Content Writing Certificate
(IDCWC Online) Course:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Admissions to the July - September session are now closed. The
next session of the IDCWC Online course shall begin on
October 01, 2007. If you are interested in joining the
October - December 2007 session of IDCWC Online, please send
in your applications, or send your queries to our IDCWC Online
Course Coordinator at idcwconline[at]vibrantwavelength[dot]com

In early July, I shall write to you with a special announcement.
This special announcement will introduce a new offering that
has been inspired by you. I shall hope that it generates the
same enthusiasm that most of the earlier Wavelength offerings
have.

I leave you with the June newsletter now.

Thanks and Warm Regards,
Shafali.

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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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1. The next session of IDCWC Online (Instructional Design
& Content Writing Certificate Online) course begins on
October 01, 2007. Read details of the course at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_online.htm

2. 5-Day Instructional Design & Content Writing Training
Workshop.(July 16 to July 20, 2007) Read details at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/instructionalDesign_trgworkshop.htm

3. 5-Day ActionScript 2.0 with OOP Training Workshop
Read details at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/AS2withOOPModule_trgworkshop_jul07.htm

4. 1-Day Instructional Storytelling Training Workshop
(August 18, 2007). Read details at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/instructionalstorytelling_training_aug07.htm

5. 1-Day SCORM Training Workshop
(August 25, 2007). Read details at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/scorm_training_aug07.htm

6. Wavelength's next course group for the Instructional Design
& Content Writing Certificate (IDCWC Contact) course begins
on August 26, 2007. Registrations are on for this group.
Read details at http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idcwc_details.htm

7. Classes for the next Flash ActionScript Developer Certificate
(ASDC) course group begin on August 26, 2007. Registrations
are on for this group. Read details at http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/actionscript_certificate.htm

8. Classes for the next Flash Certificate (FCC) course group
begin on July 29, 2007. Registrations are on for this group.
Read details at http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/flash_certificate.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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Has it ever happened to you that you prepared for a
training program with an audience profile in mind, but when
you faced the audience, you found it mottled with
participants that didn't seem part of the audience group
that you had in mind? Have you found yourself looking at a
group where one or two members of the audience were
completely lost to those around them? Did it ever happen
that you felt the training went well, but the feedback
didn't quite agree with your perception...and then you
lost precious hours mulling over the reasons that seemed
beyond your grasp!

If you have, you've trained...and if you've trained, you've
been through all or some of what I've listed above. Read the
Wavelength article, "A Journey into the Trainer's Heart!"
at http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trainers_heart.htm for
a heart-to-heart talk about some training issues.

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ID Section
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ID Concepts
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"Science of e-learning involves the scientific investigation
of how people learn in electronic environments."

Why is it important for us to know how people learn in
electronic environments? I guess it is important as this
knowledge helps us design more effective elearning content.
The article, "ELEMENTS OF A SCIENCE OF E-LEARNING" by RICHARD
E. MAYER, which is available at:
http://cecs5580.pbwiki.com/f/elements%20of%20a%20science%20of%20e-learning.pdf
discusses the 9 effects that can be replicated in eLearning.

I recommend this reading to all eLearning content developers
and instructional designers.

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Language & Culture
------------------------------------
"Inclusive Design is an approach to the design of products,
services and environments to be as usable as possible by as
many people as possible regardless of age, ability or situation."
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusive_design) In the
above definition, the terms ability and situation relate to the
learner's culture. This month, I've selected two links that
will help you understand inclusive design better.

1. Click http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/dyjur/index.htm
to read the article, "Inclusive Practices in Instructional
Design" by Patricia Dyjur. This article clearly outlines
how inclusive instructional design may be implemented.

2. Another web page at http://www.tiresias.org/guidelines/inclusive.htm
(Guidelines for Inclusive Design) gives us an academic
organization's viewpoint on inclusive design.

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Writing Style
------------------------------
1. We've spent 2.5 years researching links of all types of
writing styles through this section...let us stop and give
some thought to writing style. What is writing style?
Click http://learnline.cdu.edu.au/studyskills/wr/wr_ws.html
for a simple but interesting page on writing style. You can
read about "Sentences", "Paragraphs", and "Punctuation" by
clicking the relevant labels at the left.

2. http://www.economist.com/research/StyleGuide/ has an
excellent Style Guide that they use for their content. What
makes this page more interesting is the presence of a
writing style quiz. You can take this quiz either by
identifying its link on the above-mentioned page or by
clicking http://www.economist.com/diversions/quiz.cfm?quizname=stylequiz
directly.

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Technology Section
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Learning Content Creation Technologies
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What shall be the technologies of the future? How will we
create content for new mediums and an audience with their
technological expectations completely different from the
audience of today. Podcasting is fast becoming an online
learning tool. Read "Teaching with Technology" by Jim Lengel,
for an overview of using podcasting as a learning technology.
This article at http://www.powertolearn.com/articles/teaching_with_technology/podcast.shtml
provides a crisp insight into "How to make a podcast' and
"How to distribute a podcast". There isn't anything that beats
real-life experimentation as a learning experience. (It is at
the bottom of the Dale's Cone of Experience - isn't it?:-))

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Learning Content Management Technologies
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The eLearning environment is changing and it is changing fast.
Let us stop and take a closer look at the change - a change
that may require us to completely refurbish the mode of online
content delivery.

1. If you've been flummoxed by the off-hand use of the term
web 2.0 by those who appear to be technically superior,
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
is the link for you. This link explains web 2.0 and how it
differs from web 1.0. As web 2.0 is a term that was first
used by O'Reilly about 2 years ago, this probably is the best
source to develop an understanding of this term. What really
catches your attention is the table that lists the differences
between the two versions of the web! Ahem!

2. After building your foundations, you may want to take your
understanding of web 2.0 further by clicking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2 and scrolling down to
the section, "Characteristics of "Web 2.0"" and then to
the section, "Innovations associated with "Web 2.0"".

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Media Section
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This section is now part of Wavelength's Media Newsletter.
For the content of this section and for many other
interesting media-related resources and activities, click
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/subscribe.htm and
subscribe to Wavelength - The Media Newsletter!

Please click the following link to view the June issue of the Media Newsletter.
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/ media_nletter_tr78ui_jun07.htm

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Site of the Month
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The Site of the Month for June is http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/forkids/
or BBC's site on history for kids.

Some of you must've visited this site before. However, today
we visit it with a different intention. We intend to
determine how this site relates to its audience - the kids!

Let us begin.

1. This site is a simple HTML site. It doesn't use Flash
for its main pages. The colors used on the home page are
bright and the navigation is extremely simple. As this site
is about the world history, the homepage displays colorful
icons and buttons that inspire the young learner to click.

2. Begin by clicking the first icon "Walk through time".
It takes us to a sub-site with a pictorial menu. Click
"What Came First?" to play some small games. I selected the
"Roman Street". This game requires you to select the
articles that do not belong to the scene. This would
probably give you some indication of the depth and the
breadth of this site.

3. Next go back to the Homepage and click "The Romans" to
reach a rich red page, where a sharp-looking character
wearing the Roman warrior's dress and sandals, stands with
a scroll. Click the first label "City of Rome and the
Roman Empire". The colorful page provides a quick synopsis
of the information on Rome. The fun facts are carefully
selected according to what may appeal the young learner.

4. The left menu shows some colorful graphic icons. These
icons take the learner to different sections related to
the current web page.

5. I tried one of the activities and realized that the
activities were fun-oriented learning activities. The
child can click one of the icons on the activities page,
and print a coloring page, but the coloring page is
designed to help the child learn. For example, the Roman
soldier coloring activity provides clues such as "helmets
were made of metal" to the child. The child thus learns
that a) the helmets were made of metal and b) the color
of metal.

6. Let me accompany you through another area of this
site, and then I shall leave you to your endeavors.
Click "Children In World War Two" to read about the
lives of the children who grew up during the time of
the World War II. Click "A Wartime Home" to see the
pictures of the different rooms in a wartime home. You
can roll the mouse over the different articles in the
pictures to learn more about them.

7. Another interesting link on the homepage is that
of the "Celts". This link opens an interesting Flash WBT.

I am confident that you will find this site interesting
and instructive. The colors, the theme, and the
variations; all make this site a pleasure to browse.
If you haven't clicked the link yet, here it is once
again...http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/forkids/

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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/wavelength_certified_ids.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/wavelength_certified_ids.htm#idcwcstudentviews
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/wavelengthians.htm#asdcstudentviews
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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Do you laugh? If you don't, you could be ruining your health.
We all strive to achieve happiness and it is the same
happiness that eludes us when we lose our health. Some years
ago, I almost lost everything that I valued by losing my
health - I recommend that you take time out to enjoy
life - don't let life run you; you run your life. Laughter
probably is the best medicine of all professionally induced
ills (as Reader's Digest proclaims.)

This month, we begin with some BPO jokes to de-stress the
busy and tired BPO trainer.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/apr/27bpo1.htm

(Laugh and retain your health. Remember, "Your death will
be accepted as an excuse. However, we require at least two
weeks' notice as it is your duty to train your
replacement." - quoted from the article at the above link.)

Click http://www.hltmag.co.uk/sep06/joke.htm for two
cartoons that are sensibly humorous.

We've all been through the rules that a great trainer
should follow, but what about some rules for the trainees?
Shouldn't there be some rules and guidelines for them too.
Click http://www.karlaadams.com/Top%2010%20rules.htm to find
out how you can "attend trainings effectively." BTW, Karla
is the fitness trainer:)

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

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Signing Off...
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I hope you enjoyed this issue of Wavelength. I shall meet
you again next month. Venue: Your Mailbox.

See you next month! Bye!

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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with "Wavelength Feedback" written in the subject.

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