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WAVELENGTH – The ID Newsletter of India – May
2005
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Hello Friends,
Welcome to this issue of Wavelength, the monthly e-Newsletter for
the Instructional Design and Content Development community of India.
The heat is building up...and so is work pressure. It continues
to mount as many more new eLearning projects find their way to India.
Many Indian eLearning companies are on a recruitment spree, which
means that a lot of new blood is being infused into the instructional
design community too.
The experienced instructional designers know that a good eLearning
script requires a sound knowledge of what different media and authoring
tools can and can not achieve. The new IDs question the need to
acquire this peripheral information. The Wavelength article, "To
Know or Not to Know..." reviews this question and comes up
with some answers.
All the Best!
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/editorial.htm
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Mystery of the Month
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This month, we review the importance of peripheral learning for
an instructional designer who creates eLearning content.
The Wavelength article (http://www.vibrantwavelength.com/peripheralLearning.htm)
defines peripheral learning in the context of ID for eLearning,
and lists some of the things that an ID must know, if he wants to
write effective scripts.
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Resources
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Resources - Writing Style
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Hackers are different from us. They are so different that they
even have their own writing style! I can see those raised eye brows
through the veneer of these lines...you are on the verge of exclaiming
- "Ridiculous!" Stop right there and check this out -
http://eps.mcgill.ca/jargon/html/Hacker-Writing-Style.html
I found this really effective and elegant article about writing
style at http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/style.html.
It begins by underlining the pain of review comments, and then proceeds
to give some extremely useful suggestions on how you can improve
your writing.
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Resources - Language & Culture
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We continue to talk about culture and how it influences Instructional
Design. Here's a baseline definition of culture. This article takes
an elemental view of culture, and lists some principles that help
define it. Click on http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vcwsu/commons/topics/culture/culture-definition.html
to read this article.
Osculation...have you ever heard of it? Well, it is one of the
most common, yet intriguing and fascinating form of human behavior.
Still haven't got it? Check out
http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vcwsu/commons/topics/culture/behaviors/kissing/kissing-essay.html#top
for some interesting, out-of-the-box reading.
Did you know that you could become a certified culture professional?
I was surprised to find that http://www.worldculture.com/culturemark/index.asp
has a Culture Globalist Certification Program. This program focuses
on cross-cultural communication. I guess Indian eLearning companies
could do with at least one culture expert - a specialist who could
ensure that our content was culturally compatible with its audience.
What do you think?
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Resources - ID Concepts
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Rapid eLearing - What is it? This term has been doing rounds for
quite some time now. Read this article "Rapid Instructional
Design: A Breakthrough" at Bersin & Associate's site by
clicking on http://www.bersin.com/tips_techniques/jul-aug_04_rapid_ID.asp
This article differentiates Rapid Instructional Design from traditional
instructional design and provides guidelines on when to use which.
In this paper, Jared M. Carman reviews the five ingredients that
constitute blended learning. Click on http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:6jjrd5aAW70J:www.knowledgenet.com/pdf/Blended%2520
Learning%2520Design_1028.PDF+modern+instructional+design&hl=en
to read how live events, self-paced learning, collaboration, assessment,
and finally the performance support materials need to come together
in the right measure to make blended-learning successful.
The article "The Postmodern Paradigm" at http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~bwilson/postmodern.html
provides some guidelines for doing postmodern ID. But then what
is post-modern ID? Don't let this trouble you one bit, as the article
also provides an introduction to postmodern thinking. This introduction
begins with the ancient worldview and brings the postmodern thinking
into focus by contrasting the ancient worldview with the modern
worldview. Let your gray cells metabolize into action!
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Site of the Month
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The Site of the Month for May 2005 is... http://www.tribalddb.com/
The main reason behind this selection is that it is one of the most
innovative sites, I've ever seen.
Some of the eye-catching features of this site are as follows:
1. The homepage is a page. Yes, it is! Caught your attention, didn't
it? Check it out. The pleasing blue of the background complements
the yellow in their logo. A small thought can go a long way.
2. A word of un-necessary caution...the site is in Flash.
3. Click <enter> to view the incredible. The site begins
to load small rectangular panels, with pleasing beiges and off-whites
in the center. These rectangles are rollover menus that shiver and
expand...and while you are playing with these menus, a yellow sunflower
against the blue sky fills the background. Did you feel the oh-so-subtle
connection between their yellow logo on the blue background of the
homepage and this sunflower...marvelous!
4. The four rectangular panels placed centrally on the page are
used in a very efficient manner. The left side menu, which has links
to Tribal DDB's worldwide offices sports differently colored logos
that follow the same 7x7 squares used to create different shapes.
These when clicked load preliminary information about the corresponding
office in the third and the biggest panel.
5. Check out the cool, yellow (again!) rollovers on the buttons
in the extreme right panel.
6. When you click any button, the background image changes, keeping
the view fresh, and your mind awake.
7. Also review the hourglass animation ("Approach" submenu.)
It's cool!
8. Each sub-menu opens with a different set of panels; all follow
the same beige-off-white theme but the changing background image
and the way the panels load is enough to keep you glued.
9. I think it's best that I stop here...and leave it to you to
discover the rest.
So, click http://www.tribalddb.com/
and enjoy.
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Surge Ahead
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The Indian eLearning industry is growing! It wants people; it wants
rookies, experienced, and pros!
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Bangalore
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Sapient - Sr. Associate, Learning & Development - Instructional
Designer
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://jobsearch.monsterindia.com/getjob.asp?JobID=29452373&AVSDM=
2005%2D04%2D22+03%3A25%3A39& Logo=1&cy=IN&ah=
http://sales.monsterindia.com/jobsearch/&q=instructional+designer
HP -Senior Instructional / Training Designer
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http://h10055.www1.hp.com/jobsathp/content/search/search.asp?Lang=ENen&
location=1100&qt=instructional%20designer
Mentorware
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The following three positions at Mentorware are still open.
Project Managers - e-learning
Instructional Design Head
Instructional Designer
http://www.mentorware.com/careers/careers_india_sub.html
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Delhi - NCR
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Techroots Solutions Pvt. Limited - (Placement Agency) - Instructional
Designer
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.techroots.com/careers/currentOpenings.html
Infopro - Instructional Designers
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http://learning.infoprocorp.com/careers/careers.html
TechBooks International (P) Ltd - Instructional Designer (Local
Candidates only)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://corp.naukri.com/mynaukri/mn_newminnernew.php?
filename=060405001228&othersrcp=&id=&phrase=instructional+designer&
type=all&farea[]=5
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Chennai
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Lionbridge (Mentorix) - Delivery Head
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http://www.lionbridge.com/company/careers/empdisplay.asp?intJobID=278&intLangID=1
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Mumbai
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Lionbridge (Mentorix) - Technical Writers
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http://www.lionbridge.com/company/careers/empdisplay.asp?intJobID=283&intLangID=1
Lionbridge (Mentorix) - Instructional Designers
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http://www.lionbridge.com/company/careers/empdisplay.asp?intJobID=281&intLangID=1
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India...is a Stage
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The Dewang Mehta award for innovation in IT was conferred upon Dr.
Sugata Mitra, Chief Scientist-NIIT, for his achievement, the discovery
of the pedagogy, science and technology of Minimally Invasive Education.
Dr. Mitra has many inventions to his credits. He is known the world
over for his "Hole-in-the-wall" experiment. Click on http://www.niit.com/niit/ContentAdmin/NWS/NWSPR/NWSPR2/pr-010405-sugata-dewang.htm
to read more on this.
Lionbridge Technologies (parent company of Mentorix,) has opened
another center at Chennai. Read more at http://in.news.yahoo.com/050407/43/2klt2.html.
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Laugh-a-little
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When did you laugh last? What?!! Did you say...last month? It's
time you laughed some more. Projects and deadlines will always be
there...don't let life pass by...laugh a little.
Here's what I did to make you laugh. I brought you some jokes...click
on the links...NOW!
If you have developed Math or Science content, this page (http://users.vnet.net/matjohns/humor/understanding-research.html)
will mean so much more to you! You would've communicated so much
better if you only knew this...but, better late than never!
What is the ID buzzword (buzz-phrase?) that resides at the tip
of eLearning management's tongue? No this isn't the joke...the phrase
is, "After all it is ID, and ID is common sense. It is not
rocket science." But then this is close enough! Check out http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6174/aeronautical-terms.htm
and know what aeronautical engineering is all about.
I thought of adding the link http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6174/jokes/ask-mr-lang-person.htm
for the language buffs but I didn't find it amusing enough so I
decided to replace it with http://www.mit.edu/people/jcb/humor/cartoon-physics
for some "animated" humor. Oops! I forgot to remove the
other link...enjoy it if you can.
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Signing Off...
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Thanks for being with Wavelength. Let's say goodbye with a 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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