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WAVELENGTH – The ID Newsletter of India – March 2008
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Hello friends,

Welcome to this edition of Wavelength.

The weather is warming up. It is motivating us to direct our
efforts towards our aims, with renewed energy. The winter
that was an unwelcome guest this year has packed his holdall
and has thankfully completed the handover of weather to
spring. This winter, I saw plants, animals, and humans suffer
alike. But now, we are all thawing again. We all want to
break free of the constraints that we've become habituated to.
We are all stretching our limbs and shaking off our lethargy.

This month's Wavelength article, "Motivation - The Fire Within!"
brings you some practical tips for igniting self-motivation
and firing the engine of your life to race it on a track of
your choice.

Speaking of our motivation, we were motivated to create PEARL!

---------------------*** NEW ENTRY***--------------------------
PEARL - A New Entry in the Cognitive Excursion Section!
(http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/cog_ex/cognitive_excursion.htm)
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Last month Wavelength introduced the Cognitive Excursion section
through HIVE and CLICK, two cerebral puzzles. Your fantastic
response to this section motivated us to introduce yet another
gem to delight you. This month, we present PEARL, another verbal
game for our elite audience.

As you already know, Wavelength shall continue to publish a new
episode of each of the three brain games every month. We hope
that this section gradually creates a special niche for itself,
as your favorite stress-buster!

I invite you to visit Wavelength's Cognitive Excursion at http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/cog_ex/cognitive_excursion.htm

---------------------*** NEW ***---------------------------------
FREE Instructional Design Orientation Workshop - April 13, 2008
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The coming April will also see Wavelength organizing a FREE
Instructional Design Orientation workshop. I request you to
recommend this workshop to all those who are special to you,
so that they may recognize the wonders of instructional design.

Find the details of this workshop at:
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idorworkshop10.htm

About Wavelength's Courses:

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Instructional Design for Senior Professionals (IDSP Online)
Certificate Course - Session 4 (July 2008 - August 2008)
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We've started receiving applications for the IDSP Online
Session 4, which is scheduled to start on July 01, 2008.
If you are an experienced learning professional wishing
to hone your already sharp skills further, write to us at idsponline[at]vibrantwavelength[dot]com

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

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Instructional Design & Content Writing Certificate (IDCWC Online)
Certificate Course - Session 9 (July 2008 - September 2008)
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Registrations for the 9th session of IDCWC Online shall be
announced soon. If you want to first
experience and then use the power of instructional design for
creating effective content, write to us at idcwconline[at]vibrantwavelength[dot]com

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

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Wavelength's Contact Courses at Noida
(The IDCWC and The ASDC Courses)
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The IDCWC and the ASDC (ActionScript Developer Certificate)
contact courses will begin their sessions on March 30, 2008.
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 9810324284/9810412297/0120-4315505.

Registrations for the three-day Instructional Design for
eLearning workshop are now closed. We shall be announcing the
next workshop soon.

I hope that you will find our new addition, "The Cognitive Excursion"
section interesting and...in the long run, also intoxicating.

Take care,

Bye!

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

The Cognitive Excursion - *** NEW SECTION!!! ***
** HIVE - New Episode!
** CLICK - New Episode!
** PEARL - *** New Introduction ***

ID Section
Technology 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 4th session of IDSP Online (Instructional Design
for Senior Professionals Certificate Online) course, begins
on July 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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FREE ID Orientation Workshop:
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1. FREE Instructional Design Orientation (IDO) workshop.
Duration: 3 Hours, Timings: 3 PM to 5 PM
Date: April 13, 2008 (Sunday)
Venue: Wavelength, Noida.
Read details at: http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/idorworkshop10.htm

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Contact Courses:
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1. Classes for the Instructional Design & Content Writing
Certificate (IDCWC Contact) course begin on March 30, 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 March 30, 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 May 10, 2008.
Registrations are open for this course group. Read details at
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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If you've felt the pain of seeing lesser mortals (you and
I, both know who they are) succeed where you failed; and
if you've experienced the sense of unease accompanied by
the inability to explain why it wasn't you who succeeded;
you've experienced the lack of self-motivation!

The good news for us is that self-motivation, isn't
genetic! I am sure that one or the other scientific
experiment, conducted at some time in some country or the
other, would have yielded some numbers that suggest
otherwise. But believe me - self-motivation or the lack
of it, is experienced by all of us some time or other.
Reflect upon your past experiences, and you'll find
yourself agreeing with me.

"Motivation - The Fire Within", is an attempt to zero
upon a method to ignite the fire of self-motivation,
which can help us perform better. Click
http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/fire_of_motivation.htm
to determine whether the method suits you.

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The Cognitive Excursion ( NEW SECTION!!! )
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Last month we introduced the Cognitive Excursion section
with HIVE and CLICK. These two games were played so often
and so consistently that we were motivated to expand this
section further. With the introduction of PEARL, you will
now have three cognitive games to compete with your friends.
PEARL comes with an inbuilt timer, which would make the
competition more intense and hence more thrilling!

Of course, the March editions of HIVE and CLICK are out too.
CLICK too is now available in a "NEW,IMPROVED" form.
Click http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/cog_ex/cognitive_excursion.htm
for an exhilarating trip into the wonderland of language and logic.

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ID Section
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ID Concepts
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What is it that motivates the online learner? Read
"Building Success for E-Learners"
by Jennifer Hofmann at http://www.learningcircuits.org/2003/jul2003/hofmann.htm
to explore the various types of eLearning content and
to determine what should be done to motivate the online
learners.

"Instructional Strategies for Online Courses" at
http://www.ion.illinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/instructionalstrategies.asp
discusses 10 ID strategies that can be used for creating
online content. Of the ten instructional strategies
mentioned in this article, the use of "learning contracts"
is quite interesting (and apparently very challenging to
implement.)

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Language & Culture
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eLearning is changing the culture of the world...is it? In
her article, "Introduction to a elearning Culture" Marcia
Conner, makes an important statement about the nature of
technology and its impact on eLearning. She states that
"the incongruent injection of learning technology into a
non-learning culture only confounds the organization; it
does not save it. Technology is not the panacea for an
organizational culture led by nonlearners." Read the entire
article by clicking http://agelesslearner.com/intros/elc.html
(Conner, M. L. "Introduction to e-Learning Culture." Ageless
Learner, 1997-2006.)

A note: I am in agreement with Ms. Conner about her
observation on the learning culture of organizations.
Recently, an organization connected with Wavelength and shared
their wish to develop eLearning content, as their "managers
were bored and eLearning content would provide some
entertainment to them."

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Writing Style
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In content writing, brevity rules! Cutting out the redundant
without affecting the essential is an art, which is
difficult to master. However, some quick tips by Peter Smith,
in "Developing a Writing Style" can make our writing lean
and smart. Click http://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/teaching_staff/Smith/students/writing.html
to read this excellent article.

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Technology Section
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Learning Content Management Technologies
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"eLearning Technology: Do you Want an LMS? Does a Learner
Want an LMS?" is an excellent, thought-provoking post on
Tony Karrer's blog. Karrer comments, "folks who are in the
Personal Learning Environment (PLE) space have a much better
idea of what will come next". He also feels that PLEs could
lead to more meaningful learning than LMSs.

I think that when learning management systems become overly
complex (the competition between the LMS providers is
resulting in newer features with every version,) the
learner develops an aversion for learning. The cognitive
load theory explains this through the concept of
extraneous load.

I recommend that you click http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2006/07/do-you-want-lms-does-learner-want-lms.html
to read this post, and form your own opinion about
complex learning management systems.

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Site of the Month
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The Site of the Month for March 2008 is http://www.pbskids.org/

If you have kids, you probably know this site well. If you
don't (and you have kids,) you should definitely check it
out...and if you are an instructional designer, who knows
tomorrow you may wake up and find yourself working for a
K-12 project. If you are none of the above, you can still
browse this site to awaken the child within.

So, if you are ready, so am I. Let's begin our tour, and
let me tell you why I selected this site over the others.

1. Spring - this is what you think when the page loads.
The colors as well as the graphics, both are aligned to
the audience's preferences (except for green-faced,
squinty-eyed, devilish looking logo of PBS Kids.)

2. The scrollers are cute. When you begin scrolling, an
optical illusion will make you think that the icons on
the wheel are rotating under gravity. Actually they are
not - but the effect is fabulous.

3. The rollover effects aren't subtle at all! After all,
who wants to be subtle at the age of 10?

4. Each button when clicked will take you to an separate
section, and each section is a complete site! Click the
koala (looks like a Koala to me, but I may be mistaken.)
to go to the kids section. While on move, continue to
check the treatment of the pages (solid but soft colors,
cute characters, huge rollover areas!)

5. I clicked the "Story Factory" quadrant of the circular
menu at the right, to reach Dot's story factory. An
extremely simplistic factory look invites you to click
either "Showroom" or "Write your Own." No prizes for
guessing my response. I clicked "Showroom." The factory
treatment continues and icons of stories created by past
visitors are displayed. Now, I was tempted to create my
own story "by myself". I recommend that you check
out the story creator...and do take Dot's help.

6. Another section that I liked a lot is "Word Girl". Though
the Word Girl shall guide your exploration of this section,
I recommend clicking the roller coaster for some cool word
games. I tried the Power Words game - an excellent use of
the storytelling method!

7. While this site is a wonderful treasure chest of stories,
games, puzzles, and knowledge for kids; it is an equally
wonderful learning ground for K-12 instructional designers.

Have you clicked the link yet?

You haven't?! Please click http://www.pbskids.org to learn
from it.

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. IDSP Online Course Participants' Views (first session):
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Click http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/trg_participants_views.htm#idsponlineviews
to read the views of our participants from the first session of the IDSP Online.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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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If you've tried introducing humor in your trainings or
eLearning content, you know how difficult the task is.

A very practical guide to introducing humor in your
writing is available at: http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/may02/hornung.htm
in form of "Seven Steps to Better Humor Writing" by
Jan Hornung. When I say, "a practical guide", I mean it.
If you want to enjoy a quick laugh, scroll down to point 6.

Did you know that one of the favorite pastimes of editors
and publishers is changing the light bulbs? Click http://editandwrite.googlepages.com/publishingjokes
to confirm.

Steve Toltz has written a novel, called "Fraction of the
Whole." A fraction of the whole (wit) can be enjoyed at http://www.readings.com.au/interview/steve-toltz
This interview has motivated me to read the entire
(not a fraction) of the whole book.

And finally:
we all are philosophers...are we not?
Click http://www.as.miami.edu/phi/jokes.htm to read what's
funny about philosophers.

Are you laughing?
Good...keep laughing!

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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 hope that you stay motivated all through the year.

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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